


Oh What a Skill to Have

by vmprsm



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Body Swap, Crack Treated Seriously, Kisses, M/M, Masturbation, Mind Swap, Phasma isnt just a buckethead, Pre-TFA, Slow Burn, but everyone needs, canon-typical battles, canon-typical fighting, pre-starkiller, rating has risen in chapter 8, rating may rise in the future, slightly ooc for good reasons, thats not how the force works, the AU that no one asked for, the KOR are actually pretty cool tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-23
Updated: 2017-06-24
Packaged: 2018-05-22 21:26:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 64,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6094494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vmprsm/pseuds/vmprsm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During an unfortunate altercation, Kylo Ren and Hux manage to switch bodies. In the following weeks trapped as each other, shenanigans and difficulties arise as they try desperately to hide the fact they are not who they say they are.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I've found someone

When the unthinkable happened, Hux had been having a good day.

He should have known, of course, that good days only lead into bad instances. That’s the way of the universe. But the General didn’t believe in that sort of thing. He was about to believe in a lot of things that he did not prior.

He was standing on the bridge for the early morning shift, as he always was. Early morning was, if the statistical reports were to be trusted (of course they were, Hux wrote them himself), the most likely time for error. People, just woken from their sleep shift, groggy or too wired on caf, made mistakes. This was fact. So, in that light, Hux took the early morning shift to minimize error. He was never off center at this time, seeing as he almost never slept. His mind always had wheels spinning, as they were now.

His eyes slid over to an officer at a navigation console. “Correct our course.”

Her head snapped up from being bent over her cup. Typical. “Sir?”

He didn’t sigh, but he wanted to. “We just passed near a black hole, unless you’d like to visit?”

She blinked, and her cheeks reddened in obvious humiliation. “Of course not sir, I’ll correct now.”

“Good.” He wasn’t usually this discourteous, but the early crowd had to be quickly whipped into shape before they did something stupid. Like steer them into a black hole. He watched her rapidly type with his head still angled forwards, and when he was satisfied he shifted his eyes front again. Staring out into the vastness of space was something he enjoyed while on the bridge. It wasn’t often they weren’t in hyperspace, and so being able to search the blackness for the blue shine of a star or the red of a planet wasn’t something he got to do as often as he liked. Recently, they’d been out of hyperspace more frequently, simply drifting with minimum force towards the next resupply station. From his last audience with the Supreme Leader, he knew it was because he had been planning. Hux could plan as well, and in this unfortunate downtime had been planning out the invasion tactics necessary to take over three or four of the planets closer to the Outer Rim, farthest from New Republic assistance. At his next audience he would casually suggest them. They could hyperjump over, sweep the planets, and be back towards the resupply in less than a week. 

This lull in progress grated on Hux. No one won a war with inaction. Nonetheless, the choice wasn’t up to him, and until it was he would be content with planning out the next few months. Or years. The inaction had really been quite irritating.

The bridge was silent for several minutes, not even the tap of keys to break the calm. The general contentedly swept his eyes around the black curtain ahead, looking for the interspersed spots of brighter light he knew existed from studying holo star maps. 

One of the doors to the bridge then hissed open and closed. Two or three souls awake enough to care looked back towards the source, and stiffened in their chairs. There was only one person other than himself that could make the officers that uncomfortable, Hux mused. Normally he would ignore the presence of the black-clad man-child, but he was in a good mood this morning. Besides, he had the whole day ahead to make up for a negative encounter, what was the worst that could happen?

“To what do we owe the pleasure, Lord Ren?” It was hard to still put the title on his name, after he had destroyed so many rooms. He swallowed down the small bubble of bile-filled anger. Nothing got him worked up faster than pointless resource loss. 

He heard the clang of heavy boots against the metal floors as Kylo Ren came up next to him. Hux straightened his shoulders, unconsciously stiffening his military stance. 

“The battle droids need to be replaced.” Ren stated without preamble. 

“And why is that?” asked Hux. Those droids had been upgraded less than a standard month ago, and Captain Phasma had only trained one group of new Stormtroopers in that time. The bile rose slightly. 

“They are weak, and their defense against bladed weapons is lacking. Replace them.” 

“Excuse me, Ren,” Hux said tightly, dropping the honorific in his anger, “I must inform you that those droids are _not for your use._ ”

“Everything on this ship is for my use.” replied Ren, tilting his head slightly down and towards the General. The bile rose higher in Hux’s throat. Not only was the little brat breaking his ship’s equipment again, he had to say so here, unabashed, in front of his officers. Who were all trying very hard to look busy. 

“It isn’t.” Hux hissed, tightening his hands around his wrists, still clasped behind his back, until they ached. “If you would like droids to train with, I will order new ones with new programming. Stay out of the Stormtrooper training rooms.” 

“I don’t want my own droids,” said Ren, turning his head fully. The chrome of his stupid helmet glinted in the glow from the holoscreen in front of them. “I want yours to work properly. Your troopers should be trained against bladed weapons and--”

Hux cut in, breaking his stance to turn towards Ren and glare up into his eyeshield. “No. You will not presume to tell me how to train my troops. Their training is _perfect_. Captain Phasma is well equipped to direct it, not _you_ , who can’t seem to keep a handle on his own weapon.” 

A hush dropped over the room. It was still for a half minute in the wake of the General’s insult. The fact that Lord Ren had, for lack of a better word, tantrums that wrecked whole rooms on the ship was a secret that everyone knew. Nobody dared speak of it, even if they were assigned to clean it up, or order the repairs. 

In the ensuing silence, Hux felt a weird pressure on his skull. As if it was the beginnings of a migraine, pressing in at one of his temples. His eyes narrowed at the helmet that supposedly hid Ren’s real face behind it. He wasn’t Force sensitive himself, but he had been trained, professionally and on his own, in what it felt like. “How dare you.”

By the tone of his voice through the vocoder, Hux could swear that Ren was smirking. “As I said, General, everything on this ship is for my use.”

Hux clenched his jaw, remembering his training on how to combat the mental attack of a Force user. Ren wasn’t really trying, he knew that, but he had to put up a good fight to dissuade him from it in the future. He imagined his mind as a solid space, and threw up walls around it of frosted transparisteel. 

He felt as if the pressure turned into a tap against the wall, and the vague emotion that came with laughter was impressed upon him.

“Cute, General.”

That tore it. He imagined the walls pressing out, to envelop the tapping force as that force sharpened and drilled inward. It was painful like a true migraine, and he grimaced openly. Ren was clearly winning, and he didn’t want to pass out on the bridge. But, he noticed, the Knight’s shoulders had pulled in, just a little, almost imperceptible through his cape. They now sat closer to where his ears would be. Was he...struggling? Bolstered, he pushed harder, closing the walls tightly around the intruding force like a snake squeezing prey and crept it backwards towards the mind controlling it. 

Ren let out a quiet breath of effort, almost unheard through the vocoder. The pain in Hux’s head became almost unbearable as the drill of force pressed against it with razor sharp intent, but he wouldn’t back down. From outside their mental space, it looked as if the two were just staring at each other very hard, bodies tensed from head to toe. 

The stalemate held for several more seconds, when Hux felt a ripping sensation in his brain. It was hands down the most painful experience of his life. He became nauseous and extremely dizzy in the same millisecond that a sense of vertigo overtook him hard. His vision blacked out and before consciousness left him he distantly heard the same navigational officer he’d reprimanded yelling “Sir!”.

He did not feel himself hitting the ground.


	2. Who makes me feel seasick

As Hux swam up through the murk of his own mind, his vision came in fuzzy blinks. There was a lot of movement above him, and he felt as if his body was moving through space. Not gently, but quickly, like he was in a TIE fighter ejection seat. 

He heard a voice above, female, and very distorted. “We’re taking you to medbay, my Lord.”

My lord? Hux wasn’t Emperor yet, he chuckled internally. It was a nice gesture though. He didn’t think medbay liked him very much, often sending troopers in from battles with injuries almost out of their abilities to treat. Good to know he was respected.

He blinked blearily. Why was everything so dark? He tried to move his arm to feel at his face, but a nurse held it down. Ah well, after a brief check in at medbay he’d feel better. He let himself be swallowed by the dark lake in his mind again.

\------------------

Ren fought unconsciousness like a circus tiger fought the whip. He thrashed violently in his own mind, tearing off the clinging dark that wanted him to stay under. 

Slowly, his frontal lobe processes started functioning. He opened his eyes as quickly as his sluggish thoughts would allow. Focusing, he recognized the fluorescent lights of the medbay. He'd been here several times before, returned from missions and battles where he had not been aware enough to say no. That said, there was a hard standing order that no one but droids worked on him. Which is why he was confused that out of the corner of his eye he could see Captain Phasma and a short male doctor. No one on the Finalizer could be considered out of shape, but this man was pushing it with his burly, potbellied frame.

“Why am I here Phasma.” he demanded, scowled at the sound of his voice. It was gravely, more whispered than anything, and didn’t have the muted effect of his helmet. It didn't sound much like him at all. He'd overdone it, that much was obvious.

Phasma removed her helmet. Kylo had never seen her face before, having only first met her half a standard year ago. She was a busy captain, taking on more work than her station required. Reports all read to him that she took immense pride in her duties and the Stormtrooper program. Her short blonde hair dropped over a sky blue eye, strands slightly damp. “Sir,” she began in a sigh, “you engaged in a...disagreement.”

“I remember that.” he rasped.

“Very good.” she continued, unperturbed by the interruption, “You both collapsed and did not recover promptly, and were rushed to medbay. It's been one hour. All your vitals are normal.”

Kylo was silent and looked back at his legs, currently covered by a white medical blanket. He turned back at the giant woman, who was carrying a datapad under her arm. She glanced down at it. “I brought this for you.”

“Let me see the footage.” he laid back against the stack of pillows behind his head, closed his eyes and held his hand out for the datapad.

Phasma sighed again and tapped around the pad, and then handed it over. Kylo needed only to press play. He watched the exchange from the surprisingly clear recording and took the video down to 1/16 speed to watch the several seconds before he was knocked unconscious. Both him and Hux, he observed, had looked clearly in discomfort. Kylo himself had felt some pain, which he had used to further fuel his attack. Then, there was a full body shudder from them both, originating from their necks, their bodies leaned toward one another briefly, and he saw the General's eyes close as they went boneless and dropped to the hard floor. He only remembered a very brief immense pain, directly before he lost consciousness. To the credit of the General’s officers, several immediately rose from their seats to assist him and Kylo, while others called medical and the Colonel on duty took over bridge control. He watched them scramble for several seconds before the feed ended and the screen went dark. 

Kylo froze. 

He then blinked, leaned forward, studying the black screen. 

“Sir?” Phasma asked, but Kylo didn’t hear her. The fact was, as he currently saw it in the mirror of the datapad, he was not looking at his own face. He was looking at General Hux’s. A further observation, as he flipped over the pad, engraved on the back with the symbol of the First Order and two stripes underneath, he was holding Hux’s datapad.

What in the Force was going on here.

“Is this a joke?” he said, more to himself than Phasma, and was horrified to realize his voice held a distinct accent that wasn’t obvious through the rasp.

“No, General,” replied Phasma, and Kylo almost jumped out of his skin in shock. She raised an eyebrow. “It is as the security video shows.” The Captain looked at the doctor, having to put her chin almost to her chest to meet his eyes. “Thank you, you may go.” The doctor nodded wordlessly and left, the door sliding shut behind him. 

“Hux,” her voice was softer, “you don’t have to tell me what happened, but are you--”

“No.” he held a hand up quickly, almost ripping out the IV in the crook of his elbow. He took a second to stare at the spindly fingers, nails close cropped with long nail beds as opposed to his true hands that had short square nails. Every look at his-- Hux’s --body was a new shock, and he was slowly becoming emotionally off balance to a dangerous degree.

Ignoring any further words from Phasma, he grabbed the IV out of his arm and swung his legs over the side of the bed, stubbornly not looking at his feet as they hit the frigid floor. Thankfully, he was still wearing the General’s ridiculous pants and shirt, though his sleeves had been rolled up. He took two steps to the door and felt something roll down his arm. He growled, a sound that rumbled in his chest much less than normal. Of course, Hux was a bleeder. He stalked back, grabbed gauze and tape, and stalked out.

\----------

Hux woke slowly, a pleasant deviation from his normal routine. The gentle beeping of the vital sensors was what pulled him from sleep. He listened, hearing no other noises to betray the presence of another person. Reluctant to open his eyes yet, he felt around his arm, feeling a needle and a thin tube, taped down. His veins felt raised, but likely the IV was the culprit. The General smiled wryly. Not surprising they stuck an IV in, he was likely quite lacking in nutrients. Phasma was always gently chiding him to eat more regularly. And sleep more. And go outside more. To which he generally replied, with a sly smile, ‘Into space?’. Which was generally when she ribbed him. 

It wasn't often he reminisced on his unlikely friendship with the Captain. She had been an ally, rising through the ranks with him in some ways, and they had been stationed on the same ships, few as they had been, for three years now. They worked out the kinks in his Stormtrooper program together. Her advice was almost always valued. Such facts made it strange then that she wasn't currently here. Hux knew her schedule completely, and she had no pressing matters today. He had believed he was important enough to her for her to be present in this unexpected event. Maybe not.

He frowned and opened his eyes. He almost immediately closed them again, the lights almost blinding. His head began to pound gently near his temples. Idiot Ren. He would have to have a discussion with Snoke during his next audience. He could deal with the man wrecking his ship. That only cost credits and some time. Could manage his rude, undermining remarks. But trying to break into his mind? Him, the operator and final word on the _Finalizer_? A man who held equal or greater rank to Ren, if Ren even fit anywhere in the hierarchy? Unacceptable.

He put a hand to his forehead, covering his eyes, making sure not to inadvertently move the IV. His hand was warmer than normal. Was he getting a fever? Why did his hand feel so rough? He must have skipped moisturizer these last few days. The cold of space sunk into the ship, and dried his skin terribly. Just another joy of living on a spaceship.

He was still lying there when the door opened and the sound of feet came into the room. They were slapping hard against the floor, and Hux scrunched his nose. Noisy people were very irritating, and Ren was always noisy. He put two and two together and waved his hand lazily towards the sound of the feet. 

“Get up.”

Well that sounded strange, and certainly not like Ren. Had he been incorrect? There was no possibility a doctor would be so rude if they valued their place on the ship, literally. Disrespect of that caliber could, and had in the past, lead to someone getting put out of an airlock. Hux had never done so directly. Supposedly it was horrid to watch.

“Clearly I’m ill,” he said and goodness, he must be if he sounded like that. He sounded like he’d been smoking for years, and going through puberty at the same time. He frowned.

“Gen--” the voice started, then huffed, “Lord Ren, this is very serious. Get. Up.” 

Hux was so surprised he actually laughed “Oh, I thought you were talking to me. Is that mind-accosting moron in here too?” By gods he really sounded awful. He removed the hand from his eyes, turned his head towards the door and opened them. They took a few seconds to focus.

It took a few more seconds, shockingly slow, to process the image. He narrowed his eyes dangerously.

“Who are you.”

“General Hux, you idiot. Get up, I need to speak with you. Now.” The man that looked to be General Hux walked to the cot, smacking buttons to turn off the machine behind him and fiddling the needle from his arm with the barest level of care. Hux shot an arm out to strike the imposter, but his speed was embarrassingly slowed with fatigue and the imposter slapped it out of the way easily. He took Hux’s arm and almost dragged him from the cot, the sheet sliding to the floor. 

Hux was so confused at this point he almost forgot to fight back. He let himself be pulled from the room, easily keeping up with the 6’1” man ahead. Actually, he could somewhat see above the imposter’s head. Seems they got the height incorrect, short by a couple inches.

As he was half dragged down a hallway, he glanced down, catching view of his legs which were very clearly not in his regulation trousers. Instead they were clothed in a rougher black material, folded on the sides to create ironed down pleats.

“What in blazes,” he said, then looked at his arm. Which was darker and thicker than he expected it to be. And bleeding from the IV puncture. “What in…” he began again, then stupidly followed up with “I’m bleeding.”

“You’re fine. It’ll stop soon.” replied the man with his face. They turned a corner and came face to face with a door. The Hux imposter stopped abruptly, almost sending the real Hux crashing into him before pulling up short. The man slapped his hand to the print scanner. It made an annoying error sound and flashed red. He growled, and grabbed Hux’s hand, pressed it roughly to the scanner. It beeped with a green flash and the door slid open. 

Hux saw little of the room, lit by a barely adequate amount of light, too busy staring at his own hand. What should have been his hand. But the shape was all wrong. The fingers too wide with bulky knuckles and the veins and tendons stood out sharply against pale, but not inhumanly (like his own) pale, skin. 

“Look at me.” The imposter demanded. Hux did, feeling slightly nauseous. He gathered back up enough of his wits to ask “What the kriff is going on here? Who are you and why am I here? You realize I will be noticed missing shortly and there are cameras everywhere not to mention I can likely kill you very quickly unless there are many more of you,”

He’d planned to continue the vaguely threatening ramble but the imposter waved his hand impatiently. “General, listen to me. There was an accident when we were on the bridge.”

“We?” Hux broke in, looking incredulous. “Who the hell are you then?”

“I’ve been trying to tell you,” said the man, looking increasingly angry, his voice dropping low. “I’m Kylo Ren. And you are me.”

Hux paused, screwed his eyes shut, tried to calm the pounding in his head, and said “Excuse me?”

The man grit his teeth and spoke through them. “I am. Kylo. Ren. And you. Are in. My body. Do you understand?”

Hux snorted. “You’re insane is what I understand.” 

The man calling himself Ren let out an exasperated, angry sound and whirled around, stomping over to a wall. He pressed a button, and a short dresser slid out. He grabbed a hand mirror from its surface and stomped back over. Hux had to say this man did certainly act like Ren. He was deeply amused by his own thought until the man held the mirror up. Then he became very serious very quickly.

“Oh no.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a quick note, I use the break line to switch between POV's in a single chapter.


	3. So many skills

It took over twenty minutes to get Hux to sit down and speak to him in full sentences. The man went into a sort of panic attack, going silent after snatching the mirror from Kylo’s hands. He stared into it for a full five minutes before putting it gently down on the nearby desk. He then began to pace, a tight short line, turning on his heel when he came up to the wall on either side of the room. It made his-- Kylo’s --hair fly out around him, and for a short while Kylo was mesmerized by it. It wasn’t often you got to look at yourself from a third person perspective. But pacing like that, while likely menacing with the thin frame and hard lines of the General’s body, looked ridiculous with Kylo’s more broad shoulders and long legs. He heard Hux muttering, a deep rumble in Kylo’s throat, and he asked “What are you doing?”

“Thinking.” was the short reply, then Hux went silent again. Kylo was patient for another ten minutes or so before getting irritated and practically forcing the General into a chair. The manhandling seemed to snap him to attention. 

“What has happened. I don’t know much about your weird magic so speak clearly. I don’t care much about the how, I quite honestly want to know how fast you can fix it.”

Kylo took a large breath, steeling himself for the frustrating and possibly violent discussion. Hux was not going to like what he had to say. He looked down at his lap, once again taking in the strange flare of the pants, and then back up into his own face. 

“I’m not entirely clear on the mechanics of this event. It is known that some of the most powerful Sith lords could move their consciousness into new bodies and snuff out the previous occupant, effectively making them immortal. No recorded data has been found on how, it’s mostly verbal legend. It is possible that, through our struggle to push each other away through the force, we passed through and followed the mental line into each other instead.”

“Immovable force, unstoppable object, all that, yes I understand. Let's do it again.”

Kylo pulled his eyebrows in, the back of his mind marveling at the tightness of Hux’s skin. “What?”

“Are you deaf? Let’s do it again. Form another mental link or whatever nonsense and switch back. Preferably soon, seeing as several doctors just saw me drag you out of medbay and will certainly come looking.”

“General,” began Kylo, slowing his speech and drawing out the words. “We almost died the first time. Doing it now, in a weakened mental and physical state, would finish the job.” Hux’s accent was much more pronounced when he spoke slowly, covered as it was by rasp of his dry throat. He got up, partly to get water and partly to get away from Hux, who was looking more murderous by the second as the information processed.

He pulled a single glass from the sink, washing it out and filling it from the tap. “It would be prudent, as well, to study the event more, meditate, and make sure of the workings of the Force in this situation before attempting to switch back.” He gulped down the water in one go, and refilled the glass. Kylo chanced a glance back at himself, swallowing down the flutter rising from his stomach. He didn’t like looking at his own face, hence why his room had no mirrors. His face said ‘Ben’. In his glance he noticed his lightsaber, still strapped to his belt. He held a hand out, willing it to him from across the small room.

Nothing happened.

Hux had been about to open his mouth to say something, likely extremely rude and demanding, but was cut off by the sound of the glass crashing back into the sink. It didn't shatter, but the cacophony of the glass versus metal was enough to silence him. Kylo gripped the edge of the sink hard, the blood draining from his knuckles, managing to make Hux’s already pale skin even whiter. Kylo took deep breaths, trying to calm his heart, beating at rabbit speed. 

Hux recovered his words. “What the hell is wrong with you? At least you understand what's going on with your ‘Connection to the Force’.” he air quoted, looking vaguely disgusted.

“I don’t have it.”

_“What.”_

\---------------

They sat in silence for several minutes, Hux clenching his hands and loosening them repeatedly until he noticed the action and forced himself to stop. The movement had been strangely soothing but it wasn’t in Hux’s nature to fidget. Kylo continued to breathe deeply, hunched over the sink. 

“Explain.” demanded Hux. 

Silence. 

_“Explain.”_ said Hux again, forcing steel into Kylo’s voice. 

A few more breaths passed before Kylo spoke. “I...overreacted. My connection, in your body, is...weak. This is a concern regarding our possible attempt to switch back. If I cant even…” he started to breath heavily again. 

Hux clenched his jaw, feeling Kylo’s molars creak uncomfortably. His molars. By the Order, this was confusing. “You need to figure it out,” he said, teeth firmly held together, “you must be able to use the Force still, as I certainly don’t have sudden powers.”

Kylo snapped his head sideways to look at him, his expression open in sudden interest. “Have you tried?” 

“Have I,” began Hux, slowly becoming overwhelmed by the ridiculousness of the situation. He stood slowly, mentally noting how long it seemed to take to get to full height. “have I _tried?_ ” he felt slightly dizzy. “When, pray tell, would I have had time? And why would I want to? I want to get into my own body, not galavant around in yours, showing off your disturbing and unnatural powers!”

“My use of the force is entirely natural, it is the energy of the universe.” replied Kylo, surprisingly calm.

Hux’s dizziness faded to be replaced with something he rarely felt, and he believed it to be rage. His eyesight dimmed as he glared at Kylo, looking into his own face, so disgustingly unguarded. As his chest began to burn, he wasn’t sure if he was even breathing, nor did he care.

“General.” said Kylo.

And Hux returned. He looked down, realizing his hand was on the hilt of the lightsaber, a gentle tug away from removing it from its belt hook. A spark of shock ran down his spine and he suddenly gasped in a breath. He sat back down, feeling weak.

“It may be prudent for you to give me my weapon.” 

Hux huffed out a laugh while trying to catch his breath. His hand was still resting on the cool metal. “No.”

“No?”

“If I’m forced to stay like this, I’ll at least act the part. So, no.”

“You’re going to turn it on accidentally.”

“I’m not an idiot, Ren. I can find the switch.”

Kylo was about to argue further when a rapping came at the door, echoing through the room. “General, sir? Lord Ren?” 

Hux didn't recognize the voice. “What?” he said irritably. 

“Lord Ren, sir, medbay is requesting you and General Hux return for a short release check up. The Chief of Medical insists, for your safety.”

He sighed, taking full advantage of Ren’s known dramatics. It was obvious the trooper needed to assess the two of them were safe from each other. He removed his hand from the saber and opened the door using the desk panel. Kylo gave him an irritated look. Let him, at least it was closer to Hux’s normal expressions. 

A small army of stormtroopers were outside, and they piled into the room, splitting without a word to give an equal force to both men. The trooper who spoke waited until the shuffle was over to step in. “We would be happy to escort you both back.” 

“Of course.” said Hux, but quickly lowered his voice to almost nothing as the words emerged. It wasn’t a very Kylo Ren thing to say. He looked at Kylo, who straightened up from the sink and cleared his throat. “Of course,” he repeated, with a commanding tone, “lead the way.” 

They led kylo out first, housed in the General’s body and therefore given that respect. Hux followed, and as he walked he settled into the horror that was their situation. He thought to himself, _'I swear on the remains of the Empire, you will fix this or I will personally put you out an airlock, Ren.'_

He noticed Kylo trip, but thought little of it, and returned to medbay in surly silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so as of 2/23 this is all I have ready to post, but don't fret! More will be coming very shortly.


	4. That Make Him Distinctive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So sorry all, I was mega sick this past week! I'm getting better, and managed to write enough to throw out a new chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to get to some action-y fun stuff soon, but I really wanted to explore these two in the cerebral way, I think writing about how they think. Enjoy.

It had been two days, _two days_ , in General Hux’s body, and Kylo was going insane.

First question, how did Hux deal with all the paperwork? Not to mention the people coming to speak to him at all hours. On the bridge, in the mess hall, in his rooms, in the damn fresher for Vader’s sake. He had already nearly gone on three rampages, but he had no weapon (somehow he couldn’t find Hux’s blaster and hadn’t had the time to really search). Somehow, he’d also been talking himself out of it. What good would it do? He needed to focus, make some time to reconnect to the force, fix this.

He sat in Hux’s room, rather, in the front room that was a study/reception room/bar. The General had a surprisingly wide supply of alcohols from across the galaxy. There was a desk of dark metal, shined to a reflective luster, that held two locked drawers and a computer set into the desk itself, complete with a small holoscreen. He had already fiddled with the drawers, knowing he would have to break them to get in. He knew how to pick a lock but he wasn't that good. Kylo sat at the desk, in a wingback chair of black leather. It was difficult to admit, but the General had style, other than his horrid uniform. Which Kylo wore, with great reluctance. 

Hux's datapad also sat on the desk, placed there two days ago by Kylo after returning from medbay. He had wanted to speak to Hux again, but he’d been suddenly bombarded with officers upon exiting medbay (two hours, really? They couldn't run the ship without Hux for two hours?) And Hux had given him a death glare as if to say ‘You’d better do my job’ before sweeping off in Kylo’s rough robes. 

He picked up the datapad, turning the compact piece of tech over in his hands. He had the urge to take it apart, piece by piece, in some vindictive display of competence. But wait, why wouldn't he poke around first? He wasn't too deeply interested in the functions of the _Finalizer_ or the First Order at large, but maybe there were some messages worth reading, for later use. 

He turned on the screen with a couple taps, and came to his first obstacle, the passcode.

Kylo halfheartedly tried a few codes, knowing Hux was certainly smart enough not to use them. His birthday, his initials, his home planet and city. He had memorized Hux’s dossier after meeting the man. A ding came from the pad, and a notice saying he had only two more attempts before the pad locked and would have to be taken to technological services. That would be embarrassing. He dropped it back onto the desk with a clatter. 

He stared at the ceiling, knowing he needed to meditate but avoiding it. What if he couldn't attune this body to his Force? He had been able to do very small tricks with effort, lifting a pen and the like. Was he able to do more?

The pad dinged again, a supposedly urgent message lighting the screen but he needed the code to read it. He picked it up once more, glaring. Then a thought occured. He was in Hux’s body, who had typed in this code countless times. 

Kylo let his eyes close, holding Hux’s writing hand over the pad. He took a few deep breaths, emptied his mind of superfluous thought. After a minute of quiet nothingness, he told himself ‘enter the passcode.’ The hand moved, tapping in the numbers. Kylo tried to remember the sequence, filing it back in a mental corner where it wouldn't be a distraction. 

The pad dinged a third time. It was open.

With a sly little grin, he looked briefly at the message. It was some short response about agreeing to a budget for the next parts replacement stop, and Kylo approved it. He was sure that whatever Hux had proposed was fine, and most people were too dull or loyal to argue. The thin fingers of his hand flicked across the pad with practiced speed, looking through messages and updates. Hux could probably file away all the things he flipped through, but Kylo was simply letting the body do the work, only picking out key words, slowing occasionally when certain topics grabbed his attention. 

There was a deep, petty satisfaction in pursuing the datapad. With the near constant bombardment of people, Kylo had felt terrifyingly exposed. He had gotten used to the privacy his status, aura, and mask had brought him. Looking through the pad felt personal, as personal as Hux ever got. Even his room was impersonal, lacking photos or mementos. It was spotless. 

Thankfully, Kylo had gotten out of doing anything that required making a real decision so far. He’d cancelled his shifts on the bridge and rearranged meetings for later in the week, fingering a recurring migraine as the culprit. He was sure the General would be pissed. He really didn't care. He could only stand people looking at him for so long. 

On the subject of looking, he mused, where was Hux? He hadn't seen him at all these past two days. True, he'd made himself scarce, hiding in the General’s room, but he would have thought the general would be banging the door down, demanding that they attempt something, anything, to switch back. The fact he hadn't was concerning. 

\-----------

He couldn't do it.

He _would not_ do it.

There was an important distinction between the two, and had primarily to do with not admitting weakness. Hux hadn't had any weaknesses since he was a child. They had all been beaten out, literally or figuratively, by the Academy. He was content in saying he was a man without fear and without weakness. 

Therefore, he would not put on that fucking Vader-wannabe bucket. 

He glared at it from across the Knight’s monastic quarters. He sat on the bed, set preposterously into a hole in the floor rather than on a frame like a normal bed. Of course Ren had to have even his bed look special. It's black sheets were cool to the touch, and surprisingly were First Order regulation for high ranking officers. Hux had always thought that giving higher ranks better amenities was frivolous. They were all soldiers, were they not? They had been trained the same. 

A wicked little corner of Hux’s mind loved it though, he knew that. He was a General, he had earned it, he was smarter and more qualified and did more work, why should he not get more considerations? Often, such accommodations made officers comfortable, smug and overconfident in their position. Hux knew that you could never reach high enough, becoming content was akin to becoming useless. Becoming content was akin to accepting death. That was the New Republic, content to work as the Old Republic did, so cushioned and indulgent and undisciplined. What he wouldn't give to just--

He shook his head, long hair brushing his cheeks in the motion. It wouldn't do to get himself worked up like that. He steepled his fingers under his chin, the larger pads that were poking his skin an obvious incongruence with how he felt inside. He couldn't settle into Ren’s body. It would be ridiculous to expect him to, but he was frustrated nonetheless. He hadn't been able to even step foot outside Ren’s quarters in the two days since their…..accident. And no one had bothered him. Now that was quite the odd feeling, being left alone. Hux would not in any way consider himself extroverted, but he was comfortable in the constant presence of others, a byproduct of command. 

A pathetic little sigh escaped his lips. He would have to figure something out. He couldn’t hide in Kylo Ren’s room every day, hiding in his body. Not that anyone would stop him. However, it would grate on him incessantly. And he had already left command for two days. Who _knows_ what that moronic man had managed to screw up already. Who knows if he had even managed to keep their little problem a secret. Anxiety built in Hux like a volcano. 

Standing up quickly, Hux wobbled a little. Ah yes, food. Needed that too. Well, it would have to wait. He threw on the outer cape over the silly robe and walked across the room, longer than it was wide, towards the only door. He snatched up the helmet from the desk. His head was so preoccupied with his concerns, he tossed a hand out without thinking. The lightsaber he’d left on the bed flew across the room, settling neatly on the belt hook, and Hux was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember you can find me on vmprsm.tumblr.com :>


	5. They're Not Mine to Have

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wooee, I managed to put out a longer-than-average chapter. Kylo and Hux finally get a chance to talk.

Hux banged his way into his quarters in a very Ren-like motion, shoving the sliding door open as soon as it unlatched. It made a mechanical whine as the automatic motors and gears were forced against their set speed. The door slid closed slowly in his wake. 

Kylo looked up, a confused but resigned expression settling on the sharp features. How interesting that when he wondered of the whereabouts of his own body, there it was. 

The man in front of him was a ball of anxiety wrapped in black fabric. He didn’t need to be very Force sensitive to notice. He clutched at the helmet, slapping two of each of his fingers at the release mechanisms. He tore it off his head almost before it had opened completely, and chucked it across the room at Kylo. It sailed awkwardly, its weight held in the air only by Kylo’s impressive throwing arm, and even still it went high. It took Kylo only half a second to realize it was flying towards his forehead, and had another half second of crippling doubt: could he catch it with the Force? It didn’t matter, the metal coming too fast to give him time. He threw his hands up, a calculated looking move to the untrained eye, and caught the helmet like a child trying to catch a basketball, with full palms, fingers automatically curling in for grip. He swayed backwards, almost tipping back the chair. Once he stabilized he checked it over for any new dings out of habit, then dropped it gently into his lap as he turned his gaze up to Hux.

Hux was breathing heavily, cheeks reddened and a slight glistening of sweat was visible on his brow. The black hair above was swept back and damp. Teeth could be glimpsed through his open-mouthed pants. 

“Even if you ran here you shouldn’t be that tired, General.” Kylo observed, resting his hands lightly on the black dome of the helmet. 

“Shut up,” hissed Hux, ripping the excess layers off his body until he was in just the pleated inner tunic and pants, tucked haphazardly into the tall boots. He stalked over to the bed and sat heavily upon it, rumpling the sheets. “Why do you even wear that thing.” he continued, beginning to take deep breaths and holding them.

“This?” Kylo looked down at the helmet, though he knew very well what Hux meant. That wasn’t a question he wanted to answer. He ignored it, and chose instead to do one of his favorite things, needle Hux.

“Do you not like it?” he asked, voice light as he could make it. Hux glared at him from across the room, menacing with Kylo’s dark eyes. Really, he was in the next room, but the doorway was very wide, a triangular opening rather than a door. “Don’t tell me you’re--”

“Don’t.” barked Hux, in an explosion of the air he’d been holding. “Do not.”

A grin stole across Kylo’s face, stretching the muscles. Did Hux never smile? Not that he did much anymore either, but it felt like he was a puppet that needed oiling in the joints. He decided to give Hux a break and kept the rest of his sentence to himself, but filed it away with all the other new things he was learning about the man. _Claustrophobic_ , that was rich.

They sat in the room for several minutes, the only noise being Hux’s breathing, which gradually died down to nothing. Then, they looked at each other.

“Where have you been,” demanded Hux, straightening up and pulling back his shoulders. “I looked at the security feeds and you haven’t been anywhere I was supposed to be these last two days.” 

“That’s very much…” _Like me,_ Kylo thought. He would spend hours, on some days when he didn’t have it in him to leave his room, switching between security feeds, watching life aboard the _Finalizer_. “True.” he said instead. “I moved all your appointments and other responsibilities to next week. Everyone was very amenable.”

“Why?” Hux’s tone was low, and his eyebrows were pulled down in an plain look of anger.

“Did you really want me to handle your meetings? Besides, I need time to think.” 

“We could have set up a private commlink.”

“For what? You’re busy all day and half the night, _General_ , I would have no time to myself if I’d kept your schedule. Would you like to switch back or not?” he sneered the man’s title, with a bit more venom than he’d intended. 

“So I could tell you what to say!” Hux stood up. “You can’t neglect my position, I don’t care if you need time to think! Work faster!” His miniature rant ended with a frustrated sound, and he ran his hands through Kylo’s hair. 

Kylo stood as well, setting the helmet on the desk. “We wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t fought me.” He knew it was a stupid thing to say, but Hux simply didn’t understand the gravity of what had happened to them. From what he knew, moving a consciousness into a new body took years of training. It was very likely they they couldn’t switch back until he had trained enough. If he even could train in Hux’s body. It was a nightmare, and the stress of it crashed onto Kylo’s shoulders, flooding the thin body with adrenaline.

Hux spluttered just slightly, clearly not expecting Kylo’s response. “If I hadn’t...you absolute...you are…” he seemed at a loss for words, and eventually tossed his hands up, the minimum of effort expended putting them only up to his chest before they fell back down. He gathered his thoughts for a moment, and looked at Kylo with a steely expression, a strange look with the dark, large eyes. “You don’t seem to understand two things, Ren. I am the superior officer on this ship. To everyone. I make the final decisions, and only the Supreme Leader may deny me. Second, the minds of my officers and I are not open to you. We have earned that privacy to be respected and I will be damned if I give it up for you, you spoiled child.” 

Kylo blinked. Truthfully, he knew those things. Understood them perfectly. He simply didn’t care. Using the Force to his advantage in all situations came naturally, he’d been doing it since he was a child. He would search the nanny’s mind to find where the cookies were being hidden. He would pick up tidbits from the other padawans to piece together when the next practice test was and would always be ready. He would sometimes mind trick people into not seeing him, when he was out at hours he shouldn’t have been. The only difference was he was usually never so overt as he was with Hux. Something about the man made him want to show off, to win. Now here they were. It didn’t matter though, he couldn’t let Hux know he may be even partially right. “You’re not superior officer anymore, General. I am. But you’ll be surprised to learn how much authority my body carries with it. You understand nothing about the Force, and what it means to wield power with it.”

“Oh yes, so much power in throwing things about with your mind.” Hux snapped, sitting back down, looking out of steam. 

“It’s more than that.”

“I know you idiot.” 

Kylo fell back into silence, studying his own figure again. He was a large man, easily having outgrown his father in height and breadth. His chest was slightly thinner, but the muscle mass from training with his saber made it hard to tell. His face had become very pale in the months since boarding the _Finalizer_ , slowly matching the pallor of everyone else aboard. It seemed even paler knowing that Hux was behind it. He watched his nostrils flare as Hux fought down his temper. What was he feeling? Angry, obviously, but what else? Was he as petrified as Kylo was about their predicament? 

Overcoming his doubt, he tried to reach out with the Force, prod gently at his own brain. Instead of the normal strong river flow that was his mind, instead a small thread trickled out, meandered its way over to Hux. Kylo was frustrated, but continued forward. He touched the other mind gently, trying to stay covert, and came up to not a wall but a mist. A greyish, swirling mist, clouding the entryway into his mind and nothing bled through. Not the barest emotion slipped out from Hux’s mind and Kylo knew he wasn’t strong enough to press through. When had he learned to do that? Maybe it was a relic from Kylo’s blocking techniques, who instead visualized a cloud of darkness to cover his thoughts. He wondered how Force-sensitive Hux actually was now, given that he was in Kylo’s very Force-sensitive body. He didn’t know the dynamics of the Force between body and mind, but it was becoming clear that at least some of a person’s sensitivity was housed in the body. Unless Hux had latent sensitivity he had ignored.

“What?” asked Hux, still snappish, glaring daggers at Ren. 

Kylo realized he’d been staring, putting so much effort in trying to even attempt to read Hux’s mind. He sighed. “Nothing.”

“Good.” Hux stood up once more, striding towards the desk. He towered over Kylo somehow. “Now there will be no more changing my schedule. I will do that myself, as soon as I acquire a datapad. We _will_ set up a commlink, you _will_ go to my appointments, and I _will_ coach you through them. I will give you plenty of time to…” he sneered “think.” He turned around, picking up clothing from the floor and putting it back on, struggling only slightly with the odd design of the robes. He spoke through the fabric. “You have one week to figure this out, Ren.”

Kylo narrowed his eyes. He did not enjoy being ordered. “You’re doing it wrong.” he said as he walked towards Hux, reaching out and tugging the cape into its proper place. He dropped his hands when he was done, but made no effort to move away. Hux gave him a wary eye. “Hux,” he started, pitching his voice to a gentler tone, “to assist in switching us back, I’d like you to try and meditate. See if you can attune to the Force.”

Hux scoffed, and turned fully to face himself. “That’s ridiculous. How would I even know when I’ve succeeded?”

“You’ll know. Though we could try together, I can teach you. It seems a fair return for the commlink.”

“The commlink is entirely necessary.”

“So is this. Do you want to switch back or not?” replied Kylo, knowing he was copying his earlier words but getting impatient with Hux’s intent to be contrary. 

Hux huffed out an angry breath, and Kylo watched his nostrils flare again. “Fine. I’ll designate a time in the schedule. Keep to it.” He swept away, boots quieter against the floor as he went to the door. It seemed to have recovered, and opened at normal speed. He had a foot out before Kylo spoke.

“Lord Ren,” he said, smirking.

“What?”

“You’re forgetting something.” He pointed to the helmet, sitting innocently on the desk facing the door. He watched Hux’s face contort, going through several emotions before settling on vaguely uncomfortable. “Blast.” he muttered, and came back to get it. He tucked it under his arm, threw Kylo a last look of distaste, and left.

Kylo at least had the presence of mind to wait until the door closed to laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up! Commlink shenanigans, and the two try to meditate with expectedly poor results.


	6. No, They're Not Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I said commlinks and meditating, but this ran on and I figured might as well release it now. Commlink memories next chapter, to be released very soon. Enjoy the crop top mention.

“I _am_ concentrating you impatient child, give me more than ten seconds!”

Hux had repeated less irritated versions of that sentence three times prior, and they’d only been attempting this meditating thing for fifteen minutes. It was late, likely 0200 galactic standard time, and the ship was relatively quiet. Generally, the ship would align its schedule to be functional with the timekeeping of the planet they had business with next, but since they hadn't been going much of anywhere recently, the floating world had settled into regular hours. At this time, it was unlikely that Kylo would be bothered with issues for the General, and Hux would be unlikely to get pissed off at Kylo’s attempts to avoid dealing with said issues.

Unfortunately, that meant the two were meeting after a full day of meetings and problems that Hux had to fix and Kylo had to endure, and Hux had figured out after only a day that dealing with Kylo Ren on a nonstop basis was the key to shortening his fuse very quickly. 

“No, you aren't.” Ren barked, opening his eyes to stare at Hux, who was glaring back. They were sitting on a not uncomfortable but boring rug in Ren’s room, with the Knight’s insistence that he felt he could focus better in a room that wasn't Hux’s ‘obsessively clean’ quarters. Hux had taken no offence really, despite the rude remark he flung back at Ren about his inherent messiness. He had always been an obsessively clean person, an organized life assisted in keeping an organized mind, and vice versa. 

They had stripped out of most of their clothing for comfort. Ren said that comfort wasn’t necessary to meditate, but for beginners it was helpful. So Hux sat in underclothes only, a ridiculously cut crop top and black pleated trousers. Ren swore it was to allow for better movement, with the thick belt normally lying on top. Hux rolled his eyes, it was obvious that Kylo Ren was somewhat conceited, and the top hugged his pecs while showing his (quite well defined, Hux had to admit) abdomen. The pants sat low on his hips, normally held up by a pair of equally ridiculous suspenders that lay on top of the folded pile of other clothes. Hux had almost laughed outright the first time he saw them, but given the bagginess of the pants he understood the necessity. As it stood he felt vaguely uncomfortable without the robes, the trail of dark hair on his abdomen that ducked under the waistband after several inches showing prominently on the flat stomach, but he swallowed down the nagging feeling. It wasn’t like the man next to him hadn’t seen it before, it was his body. 

What was odd was seeing his own body, Hux mused, from the outside. Mirrors were never 100% accurate, your view of yourself obscured by the flipped image and inherent flaws in the glass. He had been able to keep his curiosity to a minimum when Ren was wearing his full uniform, but now stripped down hadn’t been able to help sneaking glances before they began, just as he couldn’t help looking now. 

Ren had taken off the coat, jacket, and boots, and rolled up the trouser cuffs to his knees, much to Hux’s exasperation. He had told Hux he was stupid for wearing those ‘little straps that held up your socks’. “You wear boots anyways.” Ren had said, to which Hux had retorted with an equal remark about his suspenders, which had shut him up quite quickly. The sock garters had been a relic from his days in the Academy, and Hux always felt more prepared for the day if he wore them. 

As he stared at himself, Hux realized how truly white skinned he actually was. Having red hair meant having pale skin generally speaking, but living on spaceships had given him an almost grey undertone, mixed with a touch of pink. The veins of his arms practically shone blue on his inner elbows and wrists, exposed by his regulation undershirt. His face was sharp, so sharp, his cheekbones drawing in toward his light green eyes that were clear and shining. Usually they shined with ambition, tonight they shined with anger. Hux shook his head very slightly, trying to focus on what Ren was saying, watching his own mouth move.

“You’re trying to clear your mind, but there’s a difference between an empty room and _nothingness_.” he said, looking all too proud of his own intelligence, “Your mind needs to be utterly blank, not just cleared. You compartmentalize so much you’ve basically built your own infrastructure in there.” Ren scoffed. 

Hux digested that information, “How many times have you been in my head?”

“Oh a few,” replied Kylo, “but never very far. You have a strong mind and I’m very good at skimming without being detected, especially by someone as insensitive to the Force as you.”

Hux hummed, a deep sound in his throat. Wasn’t much to be done about it anyways, and it wasn’t as if Hux had much to hide. It was more the principle of the thing, that his mind was off limits. “Fine, fine. I’ll try again, but give me more than ten seconds or I will stuff your suspenders into your mouth.” It wasn’t his best threat, but for stars sake's it was two in the morning. 

“ _Your_ mouth, you mean.” replied Ren, and Hux sighed loudly, shutting his eyes again. 

Well there was no stopping the fact that when he tried to clear his mind, he imagined emptying a room. A hole opened in the floor, a lack of color, and everything, all his thoughts, were simply sucked in. His memories of the thankfully mitigated disaster that was today. The sensory input from the cold room, the rough rug, Ren breathing next to him, hair tickling his forehead. His fears about what had happened, anxiety that they may never get back into their rightful bodies. Hux was left with a gaping maw, in a white room. He cast about, trying to think of what to clear the room with, and at the same time trying not to think at all. He squeezed his eyes tighter, beginning to feel frustrated.

The soft sound of his own voice, almost gentler than he’d ever used it himself, said “You're almost there, Hux. Relax, and let it go.”

It _was_ relaxing, to hear his own voice reassuring him. To hear it, and know Ren was treating him with such patience, was somehow a boost to his own patience. He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly through his mouth. He went back to the room with the hole, thinking of nothing else. He saw the hole, and things moved naturally, without effort. It widened, and rather than the room falling in, the hole acted as an eraser, the room simply disappearing under its spread. After a few seconds, it felt as if Hux was emptying too, from the top down, his body losing its tenseness. He floated in the empty space of his mind for an indeterminable amount of time, feeling as if he could swim through his own veins, cycle gently through his body as his heart rate slowed. 

Distantly, he knew Kylo Ren was beside him, and without intending to he reached out, becoming more aware of him as a presence somewhere in or maybe outside the infinity of his mind. He got the impression of color, a red-brown that was warm and yet cautious, like a wolf in the cover of the forest. As he reached out, stretching from a center point on his body, the wolf did not shy away. He got a feeling of anxiousness, fleeting, but the presence did not move. He reached further, now almost straining like he had reached the end of a leash. 

Was he also a wolf to Ren? Or was he something else? The red-brown of Ren pushed forward, hard, and a gasp reached Hux’s ears. He gasped in return, snapping back into his own mind and the presence was lost. His eyes flew open, and he heaved in air: he had barely been breathing. For how long? Then he noticed Ren, pulling in heavy breaths, somehow leaned very close to Hux. His eyes were screwed shut, orange eyebrows pulled down and hair in disarray. “Ren?” ventured Hux, staying very still. He wasn’t sure why, he felt as if the wolf was suddenly real, struggling under skin that was not his own, pushing against cool flesh. 

A few more breaths, and he spoke. “It’s fine, I’m just,” he broke off, and his fists clenched. After a seconds he lifted them and slammed them back down knuckles first, into the rug, leaning forward with the blow. Hux winced, he knew his body and unfortunately that would bruise. Ren pulled in a stiff breath through his nose. “I am unused to having such difficulty with this.”

Translation, he was panicking. Hux supposed he could understand. To put it into terms for an average person, it was like suddenly being crippled, or maybe mentally challenged. Though he certainly did not fear Kylo Ren or his Force abilities, he could respect that the man was vastly powerful. And while Hux himself was impressive for a mortal man, the two simply couldn't be compared. He simply hoped that Ren would use the roomy, well-worked brain he was currently in to his advantage. 

He reached out a hand, slowly, trying to push out the image of a wolf with dark eyes from his mind and laid it gently on Ren’s arm. It was strained, and Hux watched his own veins push against the skin. There was a twitch, but otherwise Ren did not react.

“I felt you.” said Hux, “When I was,” he paused, not knowing what to call it, but pressed on, “you were there. Not right next to me, but you were close.”

“I know.” was all Ren said, and finally looked up, tension leaving his frame. He stretched backwards, and Hux took his hand back. After a moment he continued, still stretched back and towards the ceiling, putting on a formal teaching voice that sounded faintly aristocratic coming from Hux’s vocal cords. “Normally, that would be nothing. I could barely leave this body, and I could not reach you. It seems I still retain some ability, and clearly you have some, whether that’s residual from being in my body I cannot say. I also cannot say if it will last. Nonetheless, if we can’t reach each other, we have no chance right now to attempting a switch.”

Hux frowned, considering. Kylo rubbed his knuckles, falling silent. “I believe, with training, I can reach you.” said Hux. 

“I believe so.” 

“We will keep trying. Not tonight, this is enough.”

“Quite.”

They sat in amicable silence for a while after, neither really wanting to leave.


	7. When He Looks I Read the Nearest Paper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> These chapters keep getting longer!! I just wanted to get this chapter out so I posted from my phone. There may be some errors and missing italicization, Ill fix it up when I get home. Enjoy!  
> EDIT: Fixed!  
> Edit 2: I changed an eeensy teensy little part to insert my oc because im garbage. You probably wont even notice, but it matters to me haha.

_Earlier That Day_

Kylo rubbed his temples, trying to keep a straight face and from groaning aloud rather than just in his head. 

He should have known this was going to be horrible.

The people around him chattered on, with tones that mixed cautious respect with casual menace, and it had been going on long enough that he wished, deeply, that he could destroy something. It was 0800, far too early to be doing anything at all honestly, and Hux’s first meeting of the day. 

There was a crackle of static in his ear followed by a short lived but extremely high pitched whine. Kylo jerked his head like a dog but valiantly restrained from yanking the damn earpiece out. 

Scratch the prior thought: he _had_ known this was going to be horrible, just not utterly so. They hadn't even started.

 _“Ren?”_ came a slightly tinny but clear voice from directly in his left ear. 

Now here was the tricky part. He couldn't send his thoughts to Hux, and Hux couldn't read his mind, so they were reduced to good old spy tactics. The earpiece, a tiny high tech thing that nestled snugly in his ear and tinted his skin tone so it was almost unnoticeable, had a wireless connection with the subvocal microphone currently clasped to his throat, making the incredibly tight collar of the uniform even more uncomfortable. Those two pieces connected wirelessly to Hux’s earpiece and his data pad (recently swiped from tech services), so his responses could be transferred to writing. 

Ren had been trained in subvocal recognition, but there was one eensy problem. He wasn't very good at it. He had been a effortless mind reader from childhood, and his pride (a pride that hux would certainly have called arrogance) meant that he had just barely passed the course years ago, and he hadn't used the skill since. He had neglected to consider this fact until just this morning, at 0750, after he was already trapped. The fingers he’d placed at his temples slid forward and dropped over his eyes as he suppressed another noise of endless suffering. 

_“Ren? I need connection confirmation.”_ said Hux, and wow was it strange to hear your own voice, speaking in an undertone directly in your ear. It was far too intimate, and made Ren’s sink crawl as he thought of it. 

With a little sigh out his nose, Ren sat up straight. Hux would pitch a fit if he slouched through the whole meeting. He was surprised it hadn't been commented on already. Hux was definitely watching the room on the security feed. He swallowed, pushing back extra saliva, and tried to keep a straight face as he attempted _“Yes, I can hear you.”_

There was silence on the other end, and Ren flicked his eyes around as the meeting settled into order. If Hux couldn’t understand him...oh stars, he was supposed to lead this thing. He didn’t think it was the end of the world, as Hux had all the other pieces to this puzzle, but it would make Ren anxious as all hell, and he was having a rough time already keeping all of Hux’s mannerisms.

 _“Well that was garbled to shit,”_ replied Hux, surprisingly candid, _“but I understood it. Keep that to a minimum and just pay attention and say what I say. Don’t blow this, Ren.”_

He snorted lightly, and took the effort to subvocalize _“Whatever.”_

_“Oh good job, you managed one word correctly.”_ Hux snarking him was a clear sign he was nervous, and it made Ren feel better. Let him also suffer.

The meeting came fully to silence, all eyes staring at Ren. Hux. At him. Oh here we go. 

“Good morning, all,” started Ren, trying to spur Hux into the instruction he had so promised. “Thank you for your timeliness.”

_“Stop that, you’re so stiff and they damn well know to be early, you sound strange for saying it. Just shut up and copy me.”_

Ren resisted the urge to roll his eyes and copied what Hux said. 

Repeating things was easy, easier than he expected. He found, for the most part, he could extrapolate what Hux was going to say after the first half of the sentence, sometimes sentences that he didn't even know the meaning of. He was talented in many areas of knowledge, but greater galactic economics was not one of them. That was...a concern, but he had a spark of hope. It was possible that either of their Force powers were strengthening. It didn't feel that way, the words in his head didn't feel planted or out of place, but in this whole area of the Force he was out of his depth. 

Then came the unbidden and unwelcome thought: Snoke may know. He must already have the skill to teach Kylo to fix this. What if he was already aware of what had occurred?

The thought almost froze him, stock still for a fraction of a second in front of ten officers that Hux had stated were Very Important. He stuttered momentarily before catching himself, shoving down the panic. He noticed two officers give him a look, smelling weakness and he narrowed his eyes, going for the stern disapproving look that Hux could pull off so well. It didn't work on him, but it seemed to put everyone else into line. He may have succeeded because they looked away quickly.

The meeting continued, Kylo rattling off figures and moving holoscreen maps according to Hux’s instruction. The order of images had been organized by the General before the meeting, the man’s meticulous organization actually being of use and more often than not he simply had to press next and the maps would zoom and pull up labels without further fussing. Surprisingly, he did recognize the names of a few trade routes, and smirked internally. However hard the First Order was trying to legitimize itself, they still had to lower themselves to pirate trade routes. 

After a half hour of parroting the voice in his ear, the prior moment of panic had subsided into a low ache in his gut. Of course Hux has visceral reactions to stress, he certainly didn't show it on his face. He wondered when the last time he ate was, letting his active thought process switch away from the meeting. He hadn't been hungry, which was normal in his own body, but when did Hux eat? The man was thin but whipcord strong, his muscles subtle but impressive in action. Or so he’d heard. He wanted to go to the gym before the switched back, give this body a real test run, see if Hux was all bark and no bite. 

In the midst of his thoughts, the meeting had become nothing but background noise, his mouth running on autopilot. A hand raised politely and he caught it out of the corner of his eye. “Yes, Major?”

 _“Ren!”_ hissed Hux’s voice a half second later, as he watched the man's face settle into a stormy look. Hux sounded anxious. _“It’s Major General, you kriffing moron!”_

His eyes widened slightly, and he kicked himself mentally. “Major General,” he said, letting only a seconds gap pass, but it was obvious he had slipped up. Damn. 

The man asked his question, clearly complicating it in revenge. He let Hux parse out the important bits for a moment as he took a deep breath. Focus, focus. He answered easily, coming back to something resembling calm. But as he continued on it became clear that some sort of delicate balance had been broken between him and Hux, and it was suddenly much more difficult to keep it together. The questions increased, now an hour into the meeting, and the pauses between Hux getting it and Kylo being able to relay a response was agitating. He felt like it was becoming obvious that something was off, and he fought down the urge to let his emotions take control. 

When a Major (a real one this time) asked a question that took an entire minute for her to say, Kylo couldn't keep a lid on it any longer. Even as a child he’d had a shallow well of patience, this meeting had drained it dry. His nose scrunched in irritation and the chair the Major was sitting in snapped with a loud crack, the connection between the seat and the post severed. She went backwards, practically flying out of the chair and executing an extremely messy roll away from the table. Limbs flailing, she thudded into the wall with her back and her head whipped into it with a second, marginally quieter thud. 

Silence fell and someone, Kylo was too angry to pay much attention to who, got up and hurried over to the fallen officer. There was another squeal of static in his ear, and Kylo shut his eyes, trying to count to five not to rip the blasted thing out and having trouble getting past two. He clenched his fists behind his back, digging in Hux’s close cropped but thin nails into his palms. 

“How unfortunate,” he gritted out, trying to mask his mood as displeasure over the disruption. Eyes turned back to him as he spoke, faces expressing confusion and irritation, but he felt as if someone was watching him in a way that was more than casual. He looked left without turning his head. At the other head of the table, Captain Phasma sat still, helmet not turned toward the ill-fortuned Major but at him. She sat very still.

“She may have received a concussion, Sir, should I take her to medbay?” asked the helpful officer, earning his title by helping the Major up from the ground and keeping a steadying hand on her arm. Kylo turned his attention back, throwing Phasma’s reaction into the back of his mind to look at later. Should he take her to medbay? Kylo wasn't sure how strict Hux was about attendance, and it didn't look like she hit that hard, though his view of the situation was admittedly a bit skewed. He bit back a waspish ‘No’ and waited to hear Hux’s instruction.

Nothing came. The line was silent as the grave and Kylo subvocalized _“Hux?”_

No reply. Kylo blinked and his thoughts raced ahead of his active consciousness. Had the line been disconnected? Had Hux left him to deal with it? No, he couldn't, the line must have gone bad and that meant they were in hot water and replying to the officer about stupid medbay was the least of the problems here--

The officer was looking at him still, say something, kriff!

He opened his mouth to reply when the door to the conference room slid open and a harried looking officer ran in, skidding to a stop inside the door. 

“General, Lord Ren is on Aft Deck C and has locked himself in a cooling room that connects to the backup atmo generators for that sector and there is a lot of destructive noises and the security feed is dead and I would have called to your private line but that also is not functional and--”

Kylo drew in a sharp breath through his nose. “Enough, I’ll see to him now.” the officer snapped her mouth shut. He tossed a look back at the room. “Excuse me, this cannot wait. We will reconvene at a later date.” Without a second glance he strode quickly out of the room, half for the illusion of concern and half to get the hell out of there. 

He followed the officer down a deck and halfway across the ship from bow to stern until they reached the cooling room in question. Kylo was grateful for her panicked presence, as he truly had no idea where he was going. He hadn't bothered to learn the layout of the _Finalizer_ , sure he wouldn't be spending much time on it. He had been wrong, as Master Snoke seemed intent on him being on board and had sent him on few missions since his arrival. He glanced at the officer, who was wringing her hands harder and harder each time a sound came from the room. “Dismissed,” he glanced at the woman's arm band, “Lieutenant Commander.” She hurried away, tapping madly on a datapad.

Kylo rapped on the door three times. “Lord Ren.” he called, still disliking the feeling of calling his own name. There was a pause in the crashing metal sounds, and the door slid open. He entered, and it slid shut with a click. 

Hux stood in the middle of the room, which admittedly didn't have much floorspace given the huge cooling tanks and wiring bundles on the floor, breathing heavily and holding Kylo’s now-deactivated lightsaber. The looked each other over, and Hux quietly clipped the saber hilt onto his belt. 

“You are an absolute moron.” Hux broke the silence first, “I thought, possibly, you could handle this one very simple task, and you go and almost blow it in front of some of the highest ranking officers this side of the Unknown Regions. Truly, Ren,” he threw his hands into the air, “Im impressed you can be this much of a screw up.”

Kylo clenched his jaw, trying to quell the rising tide of rage. He didn't let anyone talk to him like that, and even the General was pushing his regular boundaries of insults. It was unfortunate that, in this instance, he had to concede that he was right in one thing. He had almost blown it. If word got out, they would likely both be finished. His mind supplied Phasma, looking at him with such intensity he could feel it through her armor.

“Why was Captain Phasma at the meeting?” he asked, smoothly ignoring Hux’s tirade. He looked exasperated, his eyes flicking to the ceiling as if asking some god to help him, but answered. “She leads Stormtrooper training regimen and schedules all troop deployments from this ship. Seeing as we have to protect traded cargo somehow, she needs to know the planned trips to schedule assignments. Satisfied?” he finished sarcastically, the word coming across to mean ‘Not that it's any of your damn business.’

Kylo nodded, looking pensive. Hux gave him a sideye. “Why?” he asked.

“I simply did not expect her, she's usually very hands-on from my observations.” he lied. “Anyways, you seem to have become familiar with my lightsaber.”

This brought a scowl from Hux, who glanced back down at the weapon, the spot of silver in his all black attire. “Please do shut up. I did what I needed to do.” 

“Break something?” Kylo smirked, pleased for evidence that the General wasn't as stoic and well controlled as he seemed. “No, moron,” Hux repeated what appeared to be his newest nickname for Kylo, “I needed to pull off a distraction to end the meeting. I couldn't let you stand there and make me a look a fool.”

“You sure did make a distraction. For the repair crews too.” he observed the room, eyeing the scorched walls and broken consoles. Nothing critical, obviously, as the tanks still functioned, but the room did look a bit like a fire tornado had come through.

“It needed to be convincing, otherwise there would be questions.” replied Hux defensively, and quickly changed the subject. “And regarding your marvelous attempt to make me look bad, what in all hells did you do? You couldn't control yourself for another half hour?”

Kylo felt himself becoming excited, his pulse rising as he remembered. He had been so stressed that breaking the chair had seemed natural, but in Hux’s body it was a feat of great proportion. “I used the Force.” he said in an almost whisper, excitement bleeding in. 

“You...you did, didn't you.” 

“I did.” his excitement was clearly audible, and he broke Hux’s parade rest to walk up to Hux, grabbing his shoulders. “That’s the most I've been able to do yet. It's not easy to sever atomic bonds like that, it takes training. But I did it.” he wasn't sure why he felt the need to explain it, but it was important for Hux to understand what he’d done. Hux looked uncomfortable, leaning back slightly and looking somewhat down Kylo’s long nose. 

“Yes, Ren, I understand. That's good, you may be able to fix this within a week after all. Small favors.” 

Kylo let him go then, practically buzzing with energy, and Hux took a step back. “I simply ask you don't practice in my body in _plain sight_.” he emphasized, and then rounded him to approach the door. 

Feeling just a little put out, Kylo almost let his lips downturn into a pout. He had nothing to say to that, and so let his mind jump tracks again. He turned. “Where's my helmet?” Hux wasn't wearing the black and silver dome. 

Hux paused before the door lock. “In your room.”

“Why?” amusement crept into his voice. 

“I left quickly.” 

“Mhm.” 

“Shut up, Ren. You have another meeting in an hour and you should look at the presentation beforehand.”

Kylo groaned audibly, getting it out early.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whats next for our unfortunate pair? Youll have to wait and see. Promise, the smutty feels are coming soon haha.


	8. But I don't care about the soaps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yoooo okay so yeah. Good hiatus huh guys? Well, I'm technically still on it until April 30th. Whoops. To make up for it this chapter is almost twice as long as the last!  
> **NOTE** The rating goes up this chapter! Time to start slow burning these boys.

Oh no. This was not happening. 

Hux stared down a body that, shocking still, was not his. This fact was less obviously upsetting, having been given the time to process it, compared to the genitals that were not his. He had woken up with the erection and had attributed it to morning wood. That was fine. He had sat very quietly in bed for ten minutes thinking of absolutely nothing to no avail. Finally frustrated, he got up to shower. He even lingered in the cool shower (heat was a luxury aboard a star destroyer) for an extra five minutes, his eyes closed and willing the problem away. This had been the routine the last few days, pointedly _not_ looking at Kylo Ren’s naked body as he went about the business of changing and keeping it clean. It was only decent, though he doubted that Ren had showed his vessel the same courtesy. The erection, however? That was new and decidedly not fine. 

He toweled off, brushing against it on accident and jumping like a teenager as a spark of pleasure lit up his spine. He huffed and stomped his foot, using its momentum to march over to the closet and yank down the robe that he’d had the droids dry clean yesterday. Ren really did have only a few pairs of the same outfit that he laundered constantly. It was a wonder they weren't falling apart. Oh wait, parts of them were. He rolled his eyes and started pulling on his undergarments. He kept his eyes cast to the ceiling as he very carefully tucked away his little problem and slid on pants. Shirt, suspenders, inner tunic, all in precise and steady order. Only when he looked in the floor length mirror ( _really_ , Ren?) and could see the outline of the bulge through his pants _and_ the tunic did he lose his cool. 

“What in all hells, honestly?” he demanded of the body, stomping his foot again in uncharacteristic yet satisfying childishness. He felt every single shift of it in the tight fitting clothes, and it was going to drive him insane. How the kriff was the Knight so goddamn sensitive? He certainly couldn't walk out into the halls like this. Could not in any way get near the bridge or anywhere else with people. It had been over a half hour and he was still rock hard. If he even thought about it, it would twitch. Did the damn thing have a mind of its own? Had there been something in the water he drank last night? 

Hux growled and tore the clothes back off, letting them crumple to the floor around him. Fine, time to see what all the fuss was about, he thought, and looked down.

_Oh._

It was difficult not to use crude language to describe Ren’s genitals. The words _huge cock_ came to mind and he violently shoved them away. He was not going to think that way about his forced-counterpart’s body. No.

Except it was so true. Once he started looking, it was almost impossible to look away. He was loathe to admit, but Kylo Ren was not blowing hot air when he talked about his physical form or prowess. He had glanced, before, but now he was _looking_. Ren was practically cut from granite his abs were so sharply defined and the dip of his hips from his waist was a perfect pornographic V shape. His stomach was flecked with large freckles. Or were they small moles? A curling trail of dark hair led from his navel down, and once again Hux was presented with what was truly, unfortunately, a very nice dick. It curved up just slightly from a riot of black pubic hair. Did he never shave, trim even? As appreciative of the view as he was, it was still quite off putting to be involved in such a mess. He was tempted to cut it right them, decency be damned, and began to pull at it, loose hairs coming out easily between his pinched fingers. Disgraceful.

He picked for a solid, silent minute, standing nude in the middle of the room, erection standing proudly out from an otherwise slim silhouette. Now, where was the damn wastebasket? 

He stomped his way to it, deposited his earnings, and stomped back. 

What now, then. His obsessive ministrations had no discernible effect on his very much not-little problem. Maybe he could just go back to sleep. Yes, Ren’s body honestly had nowhere to be for the next several hours. Hux had gotten up early to go over meeting notes again, but if he was being honest with himself he didn't need to. Getting back into bed was a brilliant plan. 

At least, it was until he’d actually done it. 

The bed was ridiculously soft, the mattress sinking delightfully as he crawled back in. It was certainly not regulation for officers, who had much more firm beds, better for the spine and had sheets that were high quality but definitely not the high thread count he was currently pulling around his shoulders. Apparently his first assessment had been incorrect. The fabric dragged against the neglected erection and he hissed. Then, he tried to sleep.

Instead, he laid in that sinfully soft spot for ten minutes before his eyes opened again, gaze blinking past dark lashes to survey the miniature tent that had been standing strong further down the bed.

“You have to be joking,” Hux grumbled to himself, barely moving his mouth. Was this not going to go away? Yes. Apparently. Was he going to enjoy the only option that seemed available to make it go away? No. Technically yes? Well, shit, he thought. 

He let a hand snake down under the sheets almost of its own accord, and again brushed through the hair between his legs. Or rather Ren’s legs. It was not a good idea to think that way, he reminded himself forcefully, and tried to blank out his mind as he wrapped a hand gently around the base.

It seemed impossible that he could touch his thumb and middle finger together holding that thing, but Ren did also sport very large hands. The thought was dashed away as unimportant as he gripped a little tighter and pulled up, letting the flesh slide through his fist. He almost let go when a wave of pleasure hit him hard. What the kriff was wrong with this boy? Gritting his teeth together, he tried instead to keep a running feed of _‘Do not enjoy this’_ through his mind as he began to stroke.

It felt different and familiar at the same time. The unknown factor of not being sure how this body liked to be touched lent a facet of excitement, little sparks when he moved in a new way and it responded. Hux kept his teeth firmly together and mouth clenched to keep from making noise, and he bent his knees without thinking. Thoughts dropped away, and his hand fell into an easy rhythm, having picked out the best set of motions without any assistance from Hux’s conscious mind. 

As he got close he opened his mouth, letting out little puffing gasps. It took only seconds more and he breathed out hugely, a low whine threading through, hips jerking as his hand caught come to save the bedsheets. 

Hux determinedly did not look at it or any of his body as he slipped out of bed, walking through the weakness in his legs to go wash off. _Hells_ , that had been good. He hoped it never happened again.

\--------------

Kylo was at Hux’s desk when Phasma keyed in for entry, a mechanical chine coming from the holodesk. The screen showed her face currently, the snapshot on her dossier, and a list of the last three doors she had keyed into. He had no reason to deny her and he pressed ‘Open’ on the screen. 

The door slid aside with a barely audible whooshing and Phasma marched in. She looked extremely out of place in the regulation yet elegant office, and her posture was stiff until the door closed behind her. Her model soldier veneer melted off with the softening of her shoulders, and she let a breath come through the vocoder in her mask. 

“General.”

“Yes, Captain?” he asked, trying to look busy on the datapad that was propped up on the desk. It held the presentation for Hux’s next meeting and Kylo had not a clue in the galaxy what it was talking about, but he would rather feel uncomfortable faced with his ignorance versus feel uncomfortable alone in the same room with Phasma.

“I was wondering…” she started slowly, and Kylo tensed up, trying not to let it show in the curve of his spine as he bent over the desk. Was the stupid collar more tight than usual? She trailed off, reaching up and pulling off the helmet. Kylo had only seen her once without it, very briefly, and tried very hard not to stare this time.

What right did a woman have being that tall but that attractive? The knight generally had very little to say about women, finding them at minimum annoying and at worst utterly unbearable. But Phasma could have been a model in the New Republic, a goddess in silks that strutted down the catwalk. Her platinum blonde hair had highlights that were too good to be artificial (not that stormtroopers really had the option usually but Phasma was on a removed level of command that even Kylo distantly recognized) and her bone structure was strong but exquisitely shaped. Her eyes had the capability to be sharp and calculating, but at the moment she just looked a bit tired.  
“...if we were still on for lunch tomorrow.”

Kylo snapped back to attention. What? Lunch? Hux had told him nothing about any lunch. His thoughts whirled into overdrive, trying to figure the meaning of her question before she noticed he was stalling. Okay, okay, options. One, an event with peers he hadn’t been told about by Hux. Two, a meeting with the Captain only that Hux, again, had neglected to make the man in his body privy to. Three, a social meeting with Phasma. That Hux. Had Not. Told him about. Either way he looked a fool, but if it was the third he wasn't aware that the General and the Captain were so close. She had been in the medbay when he had woken up to the beginning of the disaster he was currently living but Ren had assumed that was just a show of support between commanding officers. Was it not? 

Either way, he had run out of time. Phasma tilted her head just slightly, beginning to look concerned. He would just need to go the middleground. 

“I’m sorry, I’ve been running so doggedly I’m not even sure what day it is.”

Phasma gave him a quizzical look. “Lunch. Tuesdays.”

Well that settled it. Hux and Phasma had a weekly social hour. Quaint. At least he could probably cancel.

“Ah. Tuesday, yes. About that--”

The look in her eyes sharpened suddenly, like a predator who had just seen prey. “Hux.”

“Yes?” he asked with a touch of tentativeness. He didn’t like that look at all. He felt studied. He felt similar to how he’d felt in the meeting room two days prior. 

“We have lunch on Thursdays.” She replied, still studying him.

Kylo almost clutched his chest in relief, a gesture that was usually too dramatic even for him. He could cover that little slip up easily. Although he considered taking a trip to medbay after Phasma left, just to check on Hux’s heart.

Phasma’s concern for Hux was admirable in an inconsequential little way, testing him like this to check up on him. Ren probably thought the General had this problem every now and then, losing track of time completely when he was buried in plans and paperwork. Her next question would probably be if he’s been sleeping. (No, not really but that seemed regular.)

“Oh by stars, you’re right. If my head weren't attached to my shoulders and all that.” He glanced at the clock on the holodesk. It was Tuesday. Wait.

Ren looked up just in time to see Phasma’s face transform from the concerned friend into something much more difficult. She hardened all over again, her mouth pressing into a thin line. Standing up straighter, she said, “We don't ever have lunch, Hux. What is wrong with you? Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

Ren felt Hux’s heart skip threateningly. She _had_ noticed something during that meeting. This was all a test. Dammit, how had he not picked up on that? If he'd been in his own body, he would have known from the moment she put her finger on the keypad. But if he had been in his own body, this wouldn't have been an issue at all. 

“Nothing’s wrong. I’m just tired.” It sounded fake even to him, but he was at a loss. Phasma was like a tracking hound with a scent. 

“That’s not it.” She stalked over to the desk and put her helmet upon it, putting her palms down and leaning in just slightly, looking like a monolith. “You’ve been strange. Slower.” Well that was insulting, Ren thought. “”ess composed. Ever since that incident with Lord Ren on the bridge. What happened to you.”

Ren’s brain was like an emergency siren. “I don’t know what you're talking about, Captain. If you have nothing else other than being insubordinate, I have work to do.” There was nothing to be done. She would be suspicious regardless, the only thing he could do to protect the secret was to stop communicating. Every word was simply more evidence. He turned his gaxe back to the pad, signaling that the conversation was over.

Phasma gave him a hard stare for long enough to make him very uncomfortable, then picked up her helmet and turned away. She got to the door, and as she exited she mused aloud. “I wonder how Lord Ren is feeling?” 

Ren snapped his head up, but she was gone. Damn. This whole debacle just got more complicated. With begrudging determination, he started flipping through the slides again. If she could notice, who knew who else would if he didn't keep it together. 

\------------------

The knock on his door had a comforting facade of normalcy until Hux realized that no one should be knocking for Lord Ren other than himself. What the hell did Ren want? They had another meeting in a few hours but until then there wasn't much to talk about. Which could only mean poor news, which he _really_ did not need at the moment. This morning had been stressful enough, and even looking at himself would likely bring on a nauseating mixed feeling of guilt and stomach butterflies. Honestly it was distasteful, but as the knocking came again (why did this idiot not have a functioning keypad) he resigned himself to the eventuality. He’d have to face it. 

He hauled the huge body up from the bed that he hadn’t had the drive to pull himself from earlier, clad in a black tank and workout pants. He was sure his hair was a riot, and even though the helmet was staring at him from a shelf across the room with an aura that said ‘You should wear me’, he couldn't do it. It seemed that Phasma would simply see Kylo Ren’s face. It was the least of the concessions Ren would have to make with Hux behind the proverbial wheel. He padded to the door, feet blessedly warm in a pair of boot socks and let it slide open from his presence.

He was confronted not with his own face, but of Phasma’s chrome armor, eyeslit even with his own eyes. Ren was the same height as her. How had he never noticed that? He yanked back his wandering thoughts to stare at Phasma and raised his eyebrows. Then he put them back down. Ren. Act like Ren. But what expressions did he even have under that helmet? Phasma waited.

“Captain Phasma. To what do I owe your visit?” he asked, putting on Ren’s condescending drawl. 

“Lord Ren. Could I come in?”

“For what?”

“I need to speak to you about a sensitive matter.” 

Hux narrowed his eyes, but he couldn't refuse. Besides, this was Phasma. To be truthful, he had missed her these past few days, and even though she didn't know it was him, he was pitifully greedy for her company. His only worry was what she wanted to speak to Ren about. Their paths rarely crossed in day to day affairs. 

“I suppose. Make it fast.” he replied, hoping she would be anything but, though she was generally concise in all things. 

She came in and once they were safely secluded she took off her helmet, letting her hair free. How she could stand having hair longer than a buzz cut in a helmet was beyond him. How Ren could put all his hair in his metal bucket was certainly Force-assisted witchcraft. He watched her move into the center of the room, giving it a quick once-over with her eyes, taking in the dark grey layered with black that was somehow darker than other living quarters on the ship despite the walls being the same. Maybe it was because Ren’s room had no windows. 

Phasma turned a full circle, coming back to face him. He stood with arms crossed, hunched in and trying to look surly. She looked about to speak when a low alert sound came from the pouch on her hip. He waved a hand at her to go ahead. 

She pulled out the pad and let out a noisy sigh through her nose. “My apologies,” she said, glancing up, “the troopers have managed to break the simulation room on deck G again.”

The reaction was automatic. “I have told them _twice_ not to set the difficulty in opposition to the holo quality it causes a fatal mismatch and overloads the whole sys…” he trailed off, his mind pairing the fact that the deep voice did not at all match the one in his mind. Phasma was looking at him with shock and something like triumph. He closed his mouth slowly and said nothing at all.

“I knew it was you.”

Hux said nothing.

“Hux.”

He broke. “Oh heavens, Phasma, this has been a nightmare.” His arms swung loose and he halfway collapsed against the wall. 

She kept looking and the shock held firm. “It is you.”

“Didn't we establish that?”

“Well yes,” she blinked, “I knew it was you but to actually…”

“Phasma, gracious, don’t do this. It makes no sense at all but yes, I am General Hux.” 

“And so Lord Ren is…”

“In my body. Yes.” It would be easiest on her to just say it outright.

“By all the stars what did you _do_ , Hux?” She burst out, her shock burning away to show Phasma’s usual demeanor when Hux had done something not exactly intelligent. 

“I don’t know!” Hux threw his hands up, “Ren and I had a mind-war of sorts that day on the bridge and when I woke up I was in _here_.” His hands came down to gesture at his body. “We’re trying to fix it but gods only know how long that will take. I’m going insane, Phasma, I don’t know how long I can keep up this illusion of Ren being Hux...or I mean, me...kriff, this is so confusing.”

“Oh, General.” Phasma said, sounding genuinely pitying. “Listen,” she walked the few paces over to where Hux was now standing with his fingers pressed hard into his temples. “This can be fixed, it has to be. Until then, I will do what I can to keep things running smoothly. I’ll keep an eye on Ren...well, you, when I’m able, to make sure he isn’t making too much of a mess of things. Don’t worry about the Stormtroopers. I’ll take over the program, covertly, until this has passed.”

He shouldn't be grateful that she had figured it out, but he was, down to his very core. It was entirely possible that she could turn around and rat him out to the Supreme Leader, or undermine his authority while Ren was busy not paying close enough attention. But he wanted to believe she would not, and he so desperately needed an ally. 

“Thank you,” he said, Ren’s voice deepening with earnestness. “I’ll keep you updated, likely through encrypted messages. This cannot get out to anyone else.”

“Obviously!” Phasma laughed shortly, breaking the solemn tone of the moment. “If that’s the case though, you need to teach Lord Ren how to better imitate you. You’d think with how much he looks at you, he would have a good grasp but he’s too expressive.”

“Wait, what?” Hux blinked several times. “He looks at me?” The awful uncomfortable fluttering that he had been dreading sparked up in the his gut. 

“I’m not sure what kind of looking, he could be trying to set you on fire with his mind, but yes. Almost anytime you two end up in the same room, he’s locked upon you.”

Hux didn’t know what to say. It didn’t matter, this tidbit of information about Ren, but given their strange new alliance it seemed that it was something he should have noticed. 

“Thank you, Phasma.” He said again.

\---------------

“How often do you pleasure yourself?”

“ _What?_ ” Ren did the verbal equivalent of a spit take, mouth forming the word once before actually speaking.

“If I’m being candid, and I believe at this point there is no choice but to be, either you do it far too much or not enough. Which is it?”

They were sitting side by side, again in the center of the floor in Ren’s room, the great rug tickling the sides of their bare feet. Hux had given up on the socks hours ago, Ren’s body was a furnace and he’d begun to sweat between his toes. The earlier meeting had gone easily, it seemed they were slowly getting the hang of the delay between the comms, and each other. Again, it was 0200 on the dot, Ren having showed up an unlikely five minutes early to their meditation meeting. They had avoided each other until settling on the floor, Ren removing the outer layers of his uniform and folding them as Hux busied himself in the fresher. 

Hux had held out as long as he could, but really, looking at himself was too much. There wasn’t a possible way for him to meditate, his thoughts churning so quickly that he was sure Ren would be able to hear, lessened Force sensitivity or not. He had looked to his left and delivered the question with no hesitation, but now the back of his neck was starting to warm as Ren stared at him in open surprise.

Silence stretched. “Well? Answer me, Ren.” Hux forced out, willing the blush that rose so readily on this damnable body not to creep around to his face. 

“I...I don’t see how that’s your concern.”

“You don’t? Really?” Ren looked away as the face across from him shifted into a sarcastic smile. It was entirely alien on Ren’s face, usually so soft looking even when angry. It was hard for him to see those strange looks on himself, but it wasn’t entirely disliked. Hux was managing to make him appear not so unguarded. 

“I can use the Force, General, that doesn’t mean my body shuts off.” He said, eyes scanning the door they faced.

“You’re a grown man! Aren’t Force users supposed to not be...you know? Purity and whatever other nonsense?”

“Jedi aren’t supposed to form attachments, they aren’t eunuchs. Anyways, that’s Jedi and it’s all extinct now. Someone attuned to the Dark side ignoring their own carnal desires would be smothering the flame we cultivate to power our use of the Force.”

“Our use.” Hux repeated, that damn blush making its way to his laughably large ears. “Well, it’s quite...inconvenient.”

Things seemed to click together in Ren’s mind as Hux watched, seeing the planes of his sharp face shift as pieces fell together.

“Did you,” Ren couldn’t seem to finish his sentence.

“I had to. It wouldn’t leave.”

“Oh.”

They sat in silence, neither of them wanting to say any words that would solidify the subject. Hux had started the conversation to get it out of the way, now it seemed more firmly in the way than before. 

Finally, Ren spoke again. “Maybe we should reschedule.”

Hux grabbed on like he would to an escape pod. “I think so. We may be too disturbed to attempt to connect to the Force or whatnot tonight.”

“Yes. I’ll just. Go.” Ren stood up and threw his uniform back on, back turned, and left swiftly.

Hux dropped his head into his hands, sighing. What an idiot he was. What they did in each others bodies would have to be a carefully avoided subject from now on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Kylo starts thinking about what Hux did, which is really just no good for anyone. The two nerds get sent on a mission.


	9. No I dont care

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two parter! Expect the second VERY soon. :3

They had casually avoided each other for several days. Their meditation sessions had been running smoothly, but they hadn't made any real effort to connect since their first miraculous attempt. They needed time, Ren thought to himself, while standing in the fresher and pulling a comb through copper locks, but time was something they didn't really have. 

They were on the cusp of Hux’s deadline of one week to fix the situation, unfortunately that simply would not happen. Kylo had been trying in all of his free time to practice with the force. He could move objects about as large as his torso, his real one not Hux’s thin but surprisingly fit one, across several feet, but once it got too far from his person the connection would thin and he would drop it. He was able to read surface thoughts, but once again distance was an issue. He growled, dropping his fists onto the sink edge. The most he could do was at the level of a new padawan. As a _child_ he had been able to do more. He doubted Hux was even trying, just playing along and assuming Kylo would fix it. 

He looked at the gel Hux used to hold back his hair, some disgustingly synthetic clear paste, and knocked it off the sink. 

Moments later he sighed, picking it up and brushing non-existent dust from the label. The chronometer beeped in a steady rhythm, letting him know that it was 0730. His, rather Hux’s, delta shift on the bridge would start at 0800 and Hux would throw a fit if he was late.

The shifts were mind-numbingly dull. He stood for hours, trying to look like Hux in his perfect stance, and relayed directions and orders when necessary. At this point, there were few to be given. The _Finalizer_ had been drifting for a couple months, and his master had not yet found it prudent to include Kylo in discussions as to why. It was something about the Jedi, it had to be. The First Order had been gathering strength for years now, they must be prepared to assist. Not that Kylo or his Knights needed it. Still, the thought made his blood run hot, and he took a feel centering breaths to avoid the adrenaline rush. 

Kylo set down the gel exactly where he had found it, and went about the last of his business. At least Hux had moved himself to the delta shift. There was no way he was staying up until 0400 for the beta shift. 

\---

The bridge was actually quite beautiful, when one could ignore the aching in their feet. Gamma shift was halfway over, and Kylo had taken to staring out of the window at the end of the center walkway. While it would appear that he was unable to appreciate anything but destruction, he in actuality deeply appreciated the stark lines and shined planes on the ship. The flooring on the bridge had always fascinated him. Nature was so messy, and he had always felt that he belonged among the stars, not on some dirtball planet doing Jedi parlor tricks and calling it _power._

Two hours in, and there had barely been a peep from the crew or from Hux. As he’d expected. He shifted the annoying little cap further down his forehead. No one was looking at him, of course they weren't, but he still could not shake the feeling of vulnerability that came with being without his mask. 

“Sir.” came a metallic voice from behind, and Kylo turned sharply, hands still behind his back. 

Captain Phasma again. The moment he began to feel something close to calm, another object of his anger appeared. It wasn't that she was an exemplary soldier and commander, she always respected authority and knew when to make helpful suggestions. It was that she was so _together_. Even Hux, as Kylo had learned very quickly, wasn't so collected. He looked it, yes, but it was like the quiet field before a geyser eruption. You pushed him, and he would snap, eventually. Phasma seemed to be made of the same chrome as her armor, utterly unrufflable. He enjoyed her when she wasn't prying into his issues, but he also couldn't begin to understand her.

“Captain.” he replied, the simple greeting giving her both permission to speak to him and remain on his bridge. It was strange but calming to hold such easy power as Hux did.

“A directive has been passed via a secure channel from the Supreme Leader. It was routed to my datapad, as yours did not give a timely reply.”

Kylo tried not to cringe. He hated carrying the silly thing around, when he should be able to pick up all the information he needed from the minds around him. Obviously, that hadn't been working out. It was probably blinking like mad on Hux’s desk. The image was vaguely amusing if you imagined it buzzing clear off the desk and crashing to the floor.

Phasma held out the pad, this one with the captain's stripe etched across the back over the symbol of the stormtrooper program. He took it with trepidation, dousing his brief amusement. What if he wanted to meet? They weren't ready to hide this, but should he even try? 

He took a breath, swallowed, and read the message.

_General_

_You are to assist Master Ren in his next assignment. Move to the following coordinates and observe the planet. If he requires anything, prepare your crew to offer it._

Kylo swallowed again. This wasn't the worst news, but it certainly wasn't the best. A set of coordinates was written directly under the end of the message, a location not terribly far from their current spot drifting through space. 

“Navigation,” he snapped, needed to put little effort to obtain Hux’s brisk tone in his anxiety, “prepare to jump to hyperspace to the following coordinates immediately.” He read off the numbers, got an affirmative from the navigation lead, and passed the pad back to Phasma. “Thank you for delivering the news. You may return to your post.”

“Sir.” she seemed to linger a moment, then retreated from the bridge, cape fluttering. 

Kylo stayed at the front of the bridge, trying not to let expressions show as he forced himself to look back out at the vast array of stars.

_“Hux?”_

A moment of silence had him pushing his nails hard into his palm. 

_“I don’t have time to talk long.”_ Hux replied, sounding somewhat out of breath. Kylo tried very hard to keep his mind on task. _“I assume you got the message from Leader Snoke.”_

_“Yes.”_

_“My message was to go to the planet and obtain an artifact.”_ Kylo could almost hear Hux rolling his eyes. _“It’s has one of the smallest known deposits of kyber crystals, apparently some Sith nonsense occurred there. It should be in and out. The_ Finalizer _is to provide assistance if needed, I don’t expect to need it.”_

 _“Yes.”_ He still wasn't very good at subvocalizing, so he kept it short. 

Hux seemed to take pity on him. _“We should have no trouble keeping the commlink. Don’t do anything unless I say. My crew is well trained, they should be able to handle anything without instruction.”_

_“What is the item?”_

_“That I’m retrieving? I don’t know. I assume I’ll know when I see it.”_

_“Maybe. Don’t touch. Tell me when you see something.”_

_“Stars, you’re still terrible. But yes.”_

“Drive is primed for hyperspace jump.” called out one of the navigators. 

“Jump!” he barked, and the world blurred outside the windows. 

\-----

The small deposit of crystals was likely explained by the size of the planet. It was frankly tiny, and Kylo was surprised that it could hold its own orbit. It had a strong magnetic field, common of Force-attuned planets. If he went down there in this body, would he feel it? The ebb and flow of power as it snaked between every point of life? He watched Hux’s shuttle leave the hangar and circle the side of the massive ship before making a beeline for the planet’s surface. 

No one had tried to take over for him when it rolled into gamma shift. It was only natural for the General to be on the bridge during a mission involving Lord Ren, and the delta shift stayed quietly in place, the head communications officer sending a ship-wide message: No crew shifts until the completion of the current assignment. 

Kylo had firmly planted himself by a holoscreen, watching the events unfold on the planet below through the optical of a scout droid. The little flying sphere kept several feet behind Hux, and Kylo had a moment of dream-like confusion, looking at his own back as his body walked through a low forest of trees with dark blue leaves. 

The entrance to the cave was sudden, appearing in a cliff-face that was sheer for several hundred feet up. The forest’s edge bumped up against the rock, and there was barely a shaft of sunlight between before the enveloping darkness of the cave. 

_“Ignite the saber. You’ll see better.”_

\----

Hux resisted the urge to turn back and glare at the droid. Not only did he have to tromp around on a stupid planet, he had an _audience_. Lovely. 

The cave was strangely warm. Not enough to make him uncomfortable in the sweeping black robes, but enough to make the sweat bead on his brow. Or maybe that was the helmet. It had taken him several minutes of deep breathing with his eyes closed before he could feel even marginally alright looking through the eye slot. He could hear his own breathing. Why did Ren ever wear this terrible thing? Thankfully the darkness of the cave made it seem as if it weren't the mask that was obscuring his peripheral vision. Igniting the lightsaber would only bring attention back to that little detail. 

He ignored Ren, and looked down two wide arching tunnels as he came to a fork. Snoke had given him almost zero instruction. Maybe the all knowing _Force_ was supposed to guide Ren through these missions, but Hux wasn't him. The most given to him in the message had been landing coordinates, near the probable entrance to the cave system. At least that bit had been uncomplicated.

“Left or right?” he asked aloud. The droid had no microphones, so his message would only reach Ren through their throat mics. 

_“Feel it.”_

“Dammit, you feel it.”

_“Then guess.”_

He would not give Ren the satisfaction of hearing him curse, so he kept it down. Feel it. What in all hells did feel it mean? The notion of guessing was utterly alien to him and he would not do it, so he would have to figure out _feeling it_. 

He closed his eyes again, and took a deep breath that hissed at his ears. Maybe if he could just try to meditate, something would happen. 

Nothing happened, but he thought he could feel the droid judging him from behind. 

Could he feel the droid? He thought maybe he could feel it hovering, shifting left then right. That model didn't need to move to keep aloft. 

“Are you moving the droid?” he muttered, trying to keep his focus. 

_“Yes. Keep going.”_

Though it was certainly imagined, he thought he could hear the excitement in Ren’s reply. He could also...

Hux let his feet pull him ahead, stepping into the left tunnel. He eased his eyes open as he walked, feeling something like an ache in his chest. He had this notion from somewhere undefined that if he followed his feet, the ache would abate. 

He tried very hard not to think, a task that was surprisingly easier than normal. 

The tunnel widened incrementally until it opened, coming into a cavern that was wider than it was tall, with lower ceilings than the average building but higher than the _Finalizer_. The droid’s lights gave just enough illumination to see the rough walls, glinting.

 _“Do you feel that?”_

“Feel what.” Hux drawled but he did. Well, whatever that was. He felt drawn, still, the ache swelling as the stepped towards the nearest wall. They were sporadically set with mostly clear crystals, some deeply embedded and others looking like they could fall out at the slightest touch.

“These are kyber crystals.” he said, more to affirm it for himself. He had seen them before, of course, but always after cutting and polish, when they were ready to be weaponized in high powered rifles and cannons. These were rough, some clearly cracked, and more opaque than they were not. 

_“Yes. They all have a color but only when energy is applied, based on refractional properties and trace minerals.”_

“I know that.” Hux snapped, managing to parse out the garbled words, but he had no fire in it. He ran his hand along the wall, and the ache swelled again. He closed his eyes and let himself follow it. The feeling led him deeper into the cavern, ghosting along the wall until suddenly, the ache vanished, to be replaced with a sense of rightness. Eyes opening, Hux found the gloved hand settled upon a crystal, small and slightly rounded and jutting perpendicular to the rock face. 

“This isn't the artifact, I assume.”

_“No.”_

“Well, I’m taking it.”

Hux tried to pull the crystal out of the wall, but it wouldn't budge. The leather slipped around the tiny thing and out of his grip.

 _“Apparently you aren’t.”_ Ren just had to have kriffing sass at the most irritating possible moment. 

“I am.” he said firmly, and held his hand out. There was a strange brief hum in his mind, and the crystal cracked out of the wall, dropping into his hand. 

It really was little, but Hux stared at it in wonder nonetheless. He hadn't even intended to use the Force, it simply seemed like a natural motion. It had simply happened. Was this what wielding the Force was like?

_“Well done, General.”_

“Oh shut up.” Hux tucked the crystal between his belt and his robes and kept going, all mysterious feelings vanishing from his chest. 

\----

It took him over an hour to find the thing he had been sent for. That _Ren_ had been sent for. Ren had actually seen it first, tucked into a shadowed altar carved into the wall. 

The altar was set with polished but uncut crystals in a circle, and in the center sat a dusty text. 

Grumbling about priorities, and how the Dark Side had them all wrong, Hux picked up the book without so much as a flutter of the Force or whatever he had been feeling earlier. He flipped through it despite Ren’s protest, finding that one: he couldn't read it, and two: the ink was so faded that even if he could read the characters, he still may not be able to actually read it. 

He tucked it in opposite the crystal. It wasn't as if it would hinder his movement, he was already wearing Ren’s corset of a waist belt. 

“I’m returning to the shuttle.” As he turned away from the altar, the ground rumbled. Only for a moment. He kept going, taking what he mapped in his mind to be the shortest path back to the entrance. The rumbles continued, short tremors at random moments, that grew more intense as he reached the exit.

“Ren…” Hux started slowly, beginning to edge towards the entrance rather than walk. His hand went back to the lightsaber, though he had no earthly idea how to use it properly. They didn't teach you longsword combat in the Academy.

_“Careful.”_

“Obviously.” he snapped back, but he dropped his voice to a whisper as the cave began lightening. 

\------

He had a bad feeling. It started as a tickling behind his ears, and had turned into something more like an ache in his jaw. Maybe that was because of Hux’s regular stress. He’d had to unclench his jaw at least six times in the past week, but this felt different. Ren had his eyes glued to the holoscreen, watching Hux advance slowly. 

“Prepare a trooper shuttle to the surface.” he said, unmoving. 

“Yes, sir.”

“Are we expecting something?” 

Phasma again. She didn’t know when to buzz off, did she? Ren’s jaw again tightened by measures. 

“I expect everything, Captain.” he said, thinking that was something Hux would say in his most assured or stressed moments. 

“Ha.” she said the word, with as little true humor as possible. “You are bad at this.”

What in all hells… Ren’s mounting anxiety over the Captain and her perceptiveness was once again put aside as something slammed into the droid. It careened towards the ground in a blur and the camera went dead. 

“Dammit!” Ren said, startling half the crew. He whirled around, “Tell me the troopers are ready.”

“They are in the shuttle sir. Order to launch?”

“Wait.” he said, then turned away to pretend to access a screen. _“Hux.”_

 _“By stars Ren, do you not get any warning about the planets you drop in on?”_ Hux sounded out of breath again, and he could just hear something loud in the background. 

_“No, what is it? Visual’s gone.”_

_“Some godforsaken beast, it's massive but it has”_ he broke off, and Ren recognized the sound of his saber connecting with something, _“some sort of camouflage.”_

_“I’m sending troopers.”_

_“I almost have it, it’s just-kriff!”_ The sound of the saber again. _“There are more. Smaller, faster, but, augh!”_

Ren jerked upright, reacting to the sound of what was clearly pain. He began back down the side walkway. “Contact Major Bengell and get him up here, he’s taking over command.” 

He felt the crew's eyes watching him try not to sprint for the doors. “Sir, where are you going?” He glanced back, Unamo. Hux had always had praise for her. 

“To the surface. Hold that shuttle until I get there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow I'm so glad to be back! I had several people coming to me during my kbb hiatus saying they really enjoyed this story, and goodness that gave me the happy fuzzies. So I am so pleased to give you something new. Thanks for sticking with me!


	10. Though i'm acting like i'm in an episode

What was most surprising was that his arms weren't getting tired.

Hux swung the spitting blade upwards, then brought it down in a long arc down the middle that split the head from the shoulders of one of the unfairly many creatures that had blocked him at the entrance of the cave. 

They were darkly colored, fur thick with undertones of blue that made them blend almost seamlessly into the forest. They didn't seem to use it, opting to somehow camouflage. If Hux had time after hacking them all to pieces, he would consider taking samples, it would be helpful to be able to hide troopers on delicate missions. 

An extremely large specimen, a full head and shoulders over Kylo’s height, had been blocking the opening, and had lunged at him as soon as their eyes met. Hux had dodged, leaving the monstrous swiping paw to catch the droid and slam it to the cave floor where it exploded in a flurry of sparks. Coming up from a roll, he had ignited the blade without needing to think, and managed to land a slash across its muzzle. The creature had backed out quickly, growling with a rumble that Hux thought he could feel in his bones, and he advanced only to be caught in the entranceway by what was clearly an ambush of the smaller ones. They had lined themselves up on either side of the entrance, pushed flat as they could against the cliff and shading their fur to a dark chocolate brown to match the exposed soil. 

Hux managed to block the first that jumped at him, teeth that were tinged with green coming dangerously close to his arm before he sidestepped, bringing the blade in a diagonal slash to easily lop off a paw. 

Small was a relative term. They were still larger than was really reasonable, heads reaching his waist past legs that counted for quite a lot of Ren’s height. He was telling Ren that he’d been caught by the pack of ten or so beasts when one reared up behind him, crashing a paw across his shoulder blades. The blow tossed him forward and he felt skin split under its claws. He yelled, angling to change his trajectory to land back in the cave in an attempt to bottleneck his enemies. He heard Ren say ‘to the surface’ and then he wasn’t paying attention as they spilled in through the opening. 

\---

For a moment he’d had several officers chase him off the bridge and down the hall towards the second of their two hangars, trying to convince him not to go down to the planet. Phasma followed him like a shadow, and with stern words turned away the officers and sent them scuttling back to their posts. Ren didn't know whether to thank her or be more concerned, but he didn't have time to think about her at all. Hux was down there, in his body, being attacked. The thought sent his stomach into an angry clenching motion and he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. He wasn’t worried about _Hux_ , of course not, he was worried about his _body_. 

He tried to get in touch with Hux as he tore down the hallway and to a lift. 

_“What’s happening?”_

Hux’s voice came through strained and with a crackle that sounded like something on the mic was damaged. _“For the love of gods, Ren, I don’t have time to try and understand your shit attempts at subvocalizing. Speak to me or shut up until I am finished.”_

“Fine.” Ren snapped, irritation bubbling up until he no longer cared if Phasma was behind him or not. “What is happening? Give me a status update.”

 _“I was hoping you’d…”_ there was a pause and a scuffling sound, _“by stars they are quick. You’d shut up, but there’s seven left at least, I’ve killed three, but the large one is lurking beyond the treeline and I can’t see him but I can hear him. They aren't intimidated by your glowing magic sword, but it cuts through well enough. How do you use this thing, anyways? It has a ridiculous amount of resistance.”_ Hux’s report was interspersed with sudden pauses and sounds of fighting, and Ren heard a deep growl close to the end. 

“Injuries?”

_“One got a paw across my back. With the result of your general recklessness I’m sure it’s fine but it burns like all hell.”_

“Is that the logic?” Ren replied. 

_“Of course. You better have that kriffing shuttle off the ship by now.”_

“We are launching now,” Ren practically ran up the boarding ramp of the assault lander, coming face-to-face with twenty or more stormtroopers, “aren’t we?” he yelled towards the cockpit. 

“Yes Sir! Closing ramp, takeoff in 30 seconds!”

Phasma edged in behind him, and the stormtroopers split down the middle in a wave to let her pass further back into the shuttle. “General, it’s more spacious back here, rather than crammed against the exit.”

Kylo eyed her retreating back and slid between the white armor of the troopers, coming to an open square space just past them.

Their commlink was quiet, as quiet as it could be with the sounds of violence intermittently bursting over the crackling line, and they reached the surface in mere minutes, the flagship hovering just out of orbit.

He heard a garbled sound and he straightened up tighter, if that were even possible. “What?”

 _“I said,”_ Hux huffed, _“five. I hear the shuttle.”_

“Landing now, don't get distracted.”

_“I can think of more than one thing at once. But be aware of the large one when you come through.”_

The ramp dropped open on quick hydraulics and the stormtroopers streamed out, Phasma marching behind. Kylo followed last, a sense of anxiety flooding back into his chest.

Phasma signaled her squad, and they fanned into two groups beside her and advanced in a silent half circle towards the caves. 

He knew better than to try and speak to Hux, instead pulling the blaster off his hip. It wasn’t Hux’s personal weapon, but a sidearm given to him in desperation by an officer on his rush to the shuttle. He appreciated it now, hearing the growls in person. A deep one rumbled through the forest, shaking dew off the midnight leaves, and the troopers glanced at one another. Phasma gave them a second, firm, _Forward_ signal, and they continued.

They met no resistance to the treeline, but Kylo could feel they were watched, a tingle between his shoulderblades that he experienced in his own body as well. He never knew if it was from the force or his own trained sense of perception.

Breaking through a patch of low bushes, they came on a mess of a fight. The space was barely large enough to fit all the troopers in a circular formation, and the beasts, both dead and alive, made it a crowded space. Hux had been holding out well, strategizing to step out of the cave to draw them close, then hacking at those eager enough to cross the threshold as he stepped back. Hack was certainly the correct word for it. Hux had none of the flourish that Kylo naturally put into his attacks, but his aim was impeccable. The beasts were simply very fast, as evidenced by their almost lazy dodges as the troopers opened fire.

Kylo stood just beyond the treeline to watch as Hux retreated back into the cave to avoid blaster fire, only the glint of silver on the helmet showing in the darkness. Several minutes passed. The stormtroopers were having a rough time of it, only killing one of the beasts. None of them had fallen yet, but it was assuredly only a matter of time. The beasts seemed to have some fairly decent level of intelligence, becoming more bold as they realized that the troopers couldn’t track them well enough to hit, lunging forward in well-timed bursts to snap at their legs. This would never end, and Kylo rolled his eyes and aimed the blaster.

He squeezed off three shots, specifically trying not to think, and buried all three in the chest of the one nearest to him. It dropped, and he smiled. 

This seemed to bolster the troopers, and they killed another within the next minute. 

_“Seven.”_

“Three left,” Kylo called out.

_“Four.”_

His stomach dropped. “Wait.”

He saw Hux come out of the cave, now having enough space. The beasts had all but forgotten him at the prospect of even more food in strange white skin. He couldn’t tell through the helmet, but got a sudden surge of what was unmistakably fear. 

_“Ren you idiot! Behind you!”_

A growling roar erupted from the trees, coming from higher up than it had any right to, and very, very close. Kylo threw himself forward, tucking into a shoulder roll that took him most of the way across the clearing and popped back up only somewhat dusty, whirling around to point the blaster at what truly an unfairly large creature. 

He could see the cauterized gash across its nose, though it was still sluggishly pushing out dark green blood that splattered onto the dark soil. It stood exactly where he had been only a moment earlier, and the troopers scattered away in a loose approximation of formation to give it space. 

“Fire!” Kylo bellowed, sweeping an arm up to point two fingers at the beast. Hux came to his side as the troopers threw everything they had at the beast, and under the barrage of fire from ten blasters it convulsed and collapsed to the ground. The last of the smaller ones scattered away, disappearing easily into the trees. He looked over to Hux, who had shut off the saber and was trying not to show that he was favoring his right side. 

“It’s fine, hmm?”

“Quiet.” Hux snapped, attempting to stand up straighter and flinching. “It was fine, before I had to swing that horribly unbalanced weapon around for ten minutes. Now it is not fine.”

Looking at Hux like this, with his helmet on, he could almost believe it was him under it, that this strange and horrible situation was just a dream. As if he could pull off the helmet and see Hux’s face, and wonder why by all the gods he was wearing Ren’s clothes. The voice modulator made words sound like they could be anyone’s. He let himself dwell in the fantasy for a moment, until Phasma approached. 

“The way back is clear, General.” She did not have her head angled to either of them. “I assume we want to get Lord Ren to medbay?”

“Yes. I believe he got what he came for.” Ren replied, still looking at Hux. He dragged his face back towards the Captain. “Tell them to warm the engines if they aren’t still running, I want to get back with no time wasted.”

“Yes Sir.” 

\--

The beeping heart monitor pulled Hux gently out of sleep. He felt heavy, and his back was uncomfortably itchy. 

He rolled carefully up into a sitting position, noticing the blood IV wired into his arm and managing to avoid a tug on it.

He was rolling his neck and shoulders and trying not to gasp at the discomfort when a nurse stepped into the room. 

“Oh! You’re awake, Lord Ren. I’ll have the General contacted.” He turned back out fast enough that Hux didn’t have time to tell him no. What the hell, were they attached at the hip now? He rolled his eyes to the ceiling. Unfortunately, in a way, they were. They were actually attached in a much worse way. 

He felt Ren coming before he got to the room. He settled himself as gently as he could against the wall, gauze patches crinkling, and when Ren arrived he even managed to look marginally comfortable, even though he felt very exposed without a shirt.

They looked at one another, and Hux felt a wave of uncomfortable nostalgia. This was exactly how things had been, with less pain involved, when he had first woken into this nightmare. He felt that Ren would tug him up any second, but he simply kept a respectful distance, hands clasped behind his back. 

“They say you will be released at the next Alpha shift. Bacta handled the worst of it, but you’ll need to take care not to overstretch.”

Hux had nothing to say. “Oh.”

“You underestimated your injury. I saw it as they were putting you under. You’re lucky you didn’t get a vertebra clipped.”

“Yes, lucky.” 

They entered an awkward silence. The words turned over in Hux’s head until he came to a realization. “I apologize.”

Ren looked up from where his eyes had been roving the floor. “For what, Lord Ren? You completed your objective. We lost no lives. It was enough of a success.” Kylo, when he tried, was getting scarily good at acting as him. The room was wired with cameras and microphones. 

“I’ve been injured. There will be scars.” He looked Ren in the eyes. 

It seemed to take Ren a moment to understand, brows furrowing into a look that was quite silly on Hux’s face. It clicked. “Ah. Yes. Well, that’s unimportant, I’m sure you have plenty already. You’ll heal shortly and it will be fine. What are scars but trophies on a warrior's body?”

Hux understood that to mean that Ren didn’t much care that Hux had gotten his body near-shredded. He hadn’t looked too closely, but had noticed Ren’s body was crisscrossed with little white lines and spots, the results of bacta getting on a wound a bit late. He would have been furious if Ren got him injured, especially anything that left an external mark. But they were different, and he was unintentionally relieved that Ren wasn’t angry. He shouldn’t even have been apologetic, but he had made a mistake, didn’t have his guard up high enough. 

“On that subject, I also apologize.”

Hux pulled out of his thoughts. “For what?”

Embarrassment was also a silly look on Hux’s face. Hux was about to tell him to knock it off until he spoke again. “I should have...the beast. I should have known it was there.”

What was he supposed to say to that? ‘Yes, you should have’? He watched Ren’s expression shift from embarrassed to irritated. 

“It’s...our objective,” he paused, “would be easier if I was able to have my full attention.” The words came out stilted and difficult, as he was obviously beginning to hold back his anger. His use of present tense was a giveaway, he was again lamenting his greatly reduced force sensitivity. It was a sore point, for good reason, but feeling sorry over it wasn’t going to help. Hux wracked his brain.

“While that’s true, your apology is unnecessary. Though I would prefer if you didn’t put yourself in harm's way.”

Ren scowled. “I...I went out there for _you_.”

“Regardless,” Hux said, suddenly feeling like he didn’t have a full grasp on the conversation, “you’re not meant to be out there. Your place is on the bridge.”

“Not if your success is on the line.”

Hux wanted to drop his head into his hands, but...well he wasn’t in his body was he? It wouldn’t at all be out of character for Ren. He compromised by cradling his head into one hand and sighing. “We can discuss this more later.” _In private_ , went unsaid.

“Shall we set a meeting after your release? 0200?”

Did he really want Hux to attempt to meditate with freshly healed wounds making his back itch like no tomorrow? Ren was giving him a hard look, doing well at using Hux’s sharp features for once.

“Yes, that’s fine.” he sighed, and Ren left without a parting word.

\---  
Hux almost didn’t catch the piece of wood flying at his face, but in his surprise it slowed in mid air, coming to rest more gently in his thrown-up hands.

Ren huffed angrily at him, “I shouldn’t be angry you can do that.”

“You shouldn’t.” Hux agreed, but he understood. He would much prefer that Ren have his Force powers. That Ren have his own _body_. But they were convenient to stop him from getting hit with things. “Excuse me, what’s this?” He gestured slightly with the wood. 

“Practice saber.” Ren replied, picking up a second from the desk. 

“For what, might I ask? Are we going to meditate with these?” 

“We aren’t meditating. You wouldn’t be able to focus.” In that at least Ren was right. Hux had been correct in his prediction: his back itched, quite a lot. 

“Oh, so you expect me to swing this around then?”

Ren twirled the wooden saber expertly, spinning once. Hux didn’t usually let his body twist like that, and Ren rolled his shoulders. “Not like you did today. That was horrible. We will both be training today. You’re fit, General, but the muscles needed to hold a saber are underdeveloped.”

Hux leaned on the saber like a cane, resting his weight on one foot. “Because I don’t need those muscles, Ren. I don’t swing sabers.” He was hit with a wave of memory, and started himself to both feet. “Wait, where is the crystal? It wasn’t among my clothes when I was released.”

Twirling the saber again, Ren reached his offhand into the desk and pulled out the small piece of mineral. “I took it and the book. I sent the book to Snoke.” He rolled the crystal, vaguely ovular, in his palm. “It really is tiny.”

“Yes, well, it is what it is. Anyways, good, I’m relieved it found its way to you.”

Ren looked up. “Why’s that?”

“It’s yours?”

He watched Ren close his fist around it slowly, and for some reason was sad it was out of sight. “No it isn’t.” He put down the saber and came to stand in front of Hux. “It’s yours.”

Hux scoffed. “For what?”

Taking one last glance at the crystal, Ren took Hux’s free hand and placed the crystal into it. It felt warm. “I don’t know. But it was you who was drawn to it, therefore it is meant for you.” 

“In your body, with _your_ Force powers. I have nothing to do with all this strange mysticism. I have no use for a tiny kyber crystal.” He said that, but suddenly felt reluctant to give it back.

“Then it’s a gift. The pull to a crystal is involved with your attunement to the Force, yes, but a crystal is chosen for the person, not the body. Just keep it.”

Hux sighed and pulled his hand from Ren’s, where it had been sitting cradled in his palm. “Fine.” He tucked it back into Ren’s belt. He looked back at the practice saber, sitting innocuously on the desk. “Aren’t I not supposed to overstretch, doctor’s orders?”

Ren look pleased. “These will be basic forms, to get you into the movements. If we are lucky my body will pick up the rest from muscle memory, and you’ll just do it.”

“Hopefully it will never need to.” Hux grumbled, settling into a ready stance.

Picking up his saber, Ren tutted. “Now first off, that’s a blaster firing stance, not a sword stance…”


	11. If This is a Rom-Com

It was entirely possible that the lull that followed the mess they’d encountered planetside was simply a recharge of their karma, before everything went to hell again. 

For a week, things were calm. Hux’s -rather, Ren’s- skin healed over, leaving shiny long scars from spine to right hip that were fascinating to view but a constant reminder when they pulled awkwardly and rubbed against clothes. Meditation was still at 0200 every cycle, but it hadn’t seemed that they had made much progress. Hux could sometimes think he felt a presence during their sessions, but no more was said aloud. 

Saber training had been a hilariously failed affair, while meditation always had a somber, almost funereal tone. Somehow, in Hux’s frankly overtaxed schedule, they had found time to “Hit each other with sticks,” as Hux so succinctly put it, with maximum sarcasm marring Ren’s soft voice. 

Kylo was growing frustrated, primarily but not singularly, at Hux’s inability to break from the stances and movements that had been drilled into him at the Academy. 

“For the _tenth_ _time_ ,” he seethed, resisting the urge to smack Hux with the piece of wood he held, “it’s not a blaster, or a knife-”

“Or any of those tools you’ve used, blah blah, it’s a saber and if you keep using military forms you will be cut down in seconds before a real Force user.” Hux parroted, his voice low and mocking, still pretending to be Kylo when he  _ was _ . It would have been amusing if Kylo wasn’t so angry. Before he could open his mouth, Hux continued.

“But I’m  _ not _ a real Force user, am I? I wasn’t trained in these forms from childhood, these aren’t my abilities, and I will likely  _ never _ meet another user because  _ I am not staying in here _ .” He pointed to his chest, muscles straining against a tight black training shirt. “This is ludicrous, Ren. I can manage beasts and normal men just fine without training.”

Kylo lashed out, clacking their sabers together as Hux brought his through in an arc to block the blow to his side. 

“Your stance is too narrow, your elbows are locked, and I could easily slip my saber down and slice off your leg because your angle is wrong.”

“But I blocked you, and that is enough.”

“It  _ isn’t _ !” Kylo hollered, the well of patience that had been graciously bestowed upon him to this point running dry. How did Hux not understand? “If Supreme Leader sends you out again, I cannot guarantee I will be there. You will be ill equipped, and will suffer.”

Hux looked at him closely. “Are you...concerned for my wellbeing? I was under the impression you were not concerned for your bodily safety.”

Kylo met his eyes and swallowed. He didn’t know what he was, anymore. He tracked his eyes around the training room that they had reserved for this time every cycle, after carefully and quietly disabling the monitoring devices. It was unlikely anyone would attempt to review the footage, but the complaint occurring if they did would end up on Hux’s digital desk anyways. His eyes alighted on the droids across the room, deactivated. “I...am.” he admitted, the words pushed hard from his lungs. They had barely had time to keep up appearances and work towards a solution, let alone think. But think he had, in the small spaces between the voice in his ear and looking at his own face. He tracked his eyes slowly back over the wall and to the man across again. Hux was behind those eyes, however brown they may currently be. He wanted to see him in his rightful place again, but he didn’t want to lose the time they currently spent in each other’s company. But that was a thought for another time, and something needed to be done to get that calculating gaze from digging too far. 

“Listen to me,” he started, taking a deep breath through the nose to calm himself, “you don’t need to learn the forms from the ground up, you already know them. What you need to do is stop  _ thinking _ so hard about it. Let my body react as it has been trained to your mental stimuli. It’s akin to wiggling your toes. You don’t have to say ‘wiggle’ in your head. You simply want to do it, and it happens. Now, take a moment, and back to ready.” He pulled his saber away, settling into a ready stance. 

Hux rolled his eyes hard, letting them linger on the ceiling, and reset. Kylo lunged at him without warning, swinging it without flourish towards his hip. Hux slid his foot out, widened his stance, faced his saber down and pushed to the side, shoving the offending saber away in a hanging parry. Then he looked a bit surprised.

“I told you.” he said, a grin splitting Hux’s stern features.

“Ugh, don’t do that to my face. Yes, for once you were correct.”

“Thank you,” Kylo had the graciousness to school his features, knowing he could only push Hux so far before he stormed off in a huff. He definitely enjoyed being right, especially when Hux admitted it. “So let’s do it again.”

\------

Hux made it back to Ren’s quarters with minimal interception, only seeing a Lieutenant and two pairs of stormtroopers. He could only hope they didn’t recognize him, having bundled the awful helmet in his robes and opting to lug the mass back rather than change out of his training clothes. Truth was, after the horrors of that blue-forest planet, he was even less likely to wear the monstrosity. Hearing his own breath hard in his ears as he fought for his life, the limited view through the visor without having a true grasp of the world around through the Force as Ren did, it had been frankly terrifying but fight response had taken over and only when he had woken up in medbay without it on did the true horror set in. If he had his way, he wouldn't wear it ever again, Ren’s Dark Side aesthetic be damned.

He keyed into the pad and stepped into the room. Dumping the pile of fabric onto the bed, he wandered into the refresher to bathe, and returned to the room a short time later, towel tucked tightly at his waist. He checked his datapad, and then wandered slowly to the desk that Ren never used. Hux, in his work-oriented obsessiveness, had turned the desk into something functional. His datapad sat primly in a corner, while flimsiplast copies of certain documents sat in neat piles around the holocomputer.

For a minute his hand, Ren’s nails closely cropped and a dark pink, hovered over the drawer set into the center. It was tempting to pull it open though he knew he shouldn’t, but after another moment of hesitation he did so anyways, reaching in and dragging up a small box. 

He had found it a fairly simple task to figure out how to lock the box with the Force, eliminating the need for a key or caution of tampering by an outside party. It had a tiny mechanism inside that he visualized, and with a soft click the box opened and he could look down at the small crystal again, nestled in a scrap of Ren’s cape fabric. It wasn’t as if he would miss it, it was torn to ribbons anyways and splashed in spots with dried blood. Hux was determined to get a new cape, and had truly shredded the old one. 

He took the little mineral out and held it, warming in his palm and glinting in the white light. A silly thing, yes, but he had been told to keep it, and it felt right. Kyber crystals, real ones, were rare. It was an interesting thing to possess even if it wouldn’t be used. 

Hux tucked it back gently, locked it away, and returned to dressing. 

\------

A beep marked Ren’s entrance into the room, and within a few steps he had yanked off his command cap and tossed it on the nearest surface, a kitchenette counter set into the wall. It narrowly missed the steaming cup of caf, and Hux looked up to scowl at him.

“Was that necessary?”

“Yes,” Ren scowled back, “your shifts on the bridge are both boring and annoying. I’m tired of it. Take a day off.”

Hux gave him a look that said he thought he was quite stupid. At least he hoped it did, because that was what he was thinking. “No.” He pulled himself to his feet from the desk, where he had been busy trying his best to read reports, and went to retrieve the cap before it slipped into the sink.

“You don’t even  _ do _ anything up there!” Ren complained, unzipping his boots while leaned against the wall. 

“I am there in case something occurs that my crew alone cannot handle. Therefore, no. Now go sit down, it's already 0210.” Hux dusted off the hat, set it down on gently on the far end of the countertop and turned to Ren, who was inelegantly pulling off his jacket. “What have you done to my hair.” 

Ren gave him a puzzled glance. “Nothing?” 

“Yes, exactly. That’s the problem.” Hux stared at his own hair, in a style he hadn’t worn since he had started at the Academy. It looked...soft, mostly. It looked thoroughly combed, shining copper even in low light and without gel it had a volume that fluffed up his hard side part to something utterly casual that even the hat hadn’t dampened. 

Ren continued to look confused, then it seemed a metaphorical light bulb went off as his expression shifted. “Oh, you usually gel it back. Didn’t have time. This is more comfortable anyways.” He shook his head out, fluffing it up even more. It looked exceedingly young and frankly unacceptable. He watched in shock as Ren ran his hands through the mess then sat down in his usual spot on the carpet.

“Wear it properly from now on.” he demanded, holding on to the edge of the counter.

“Why?” Hux knew that tone, even disguised by his own voice. Ren was being difficult for amusement. He gripped the counter harder.

“It’s unprofessional.”

“Is your hair not cut to regulation, General?” Ren dared to run a hand through it again, it fell back and settled partly in front of his eye. He couldn’t even, this was just improper. His hair length was pushing it, yes but dammit that wasn’t the point. Hux marched over and sat directly in front of Ren, leaning in close so they were eye to eye. 

“You will not make a fool of me in front of my crew by wearing my hair like that. It’s undignified and sets a poor example. Fix it tomorrow.”

Ren appeared entirely unfazed, going so far as to look away from him and to the desk. “I’m unsure if such double standards will work in your favor.”

“Excuse me?” They’d been doing so well recently, things running smoothly as they could, and now Ren had settled back towards his difficult nature. 

“I said, I'm unsure if double standards will work in your favor, specifically in this instance.” He pulled his eyes away just as Hux looked to where he had been gazing. His stomach dropped just an inch, seeing the helmet perched there. He looked back into his own eyes, which were almost mischievously narrowed as Ren watched him. “You haven’t been wearing it.”

Hux had no words, and he glanced down to see the other mouth, twisting up in a wry smile. He looked away. “That isn’t-”

“It is.” Ren cut him off, but leaned in very briefly to bump the tips of their noses, then settled back, putting a respectable amount space between them. Hux was so startled he forgot what he had been ready to say. “My physical presence is as important as yours, but I am willing to make exceptions. I have no concern about the crew seeing my face at this time, in small groups. I ask that you wear it to assemblies, or off-ship.”

Hux seriously doubted that. Someone with his power and off-putting aura didn’t really need to be concerned about  _ reputation.  _ He had no one to prove himself to other than the Supreme Leader. He sniffed, trying to pull together the righteous anger he held before Ren had  _ booped their noses. _ He didn’t even want to begin parsing that one out yet. Ren looked passive, as if that wasn’t the weirdest thing that had passed between them since...well...a lot of strange things had happened, granted.

“Well, that seems to be the end of that conversation. You wanted to hurry, so let’s go.” Ren closed his eyes, clearly assuming Hux would follow. Left without any real options save making a fool of himself, he did. 

It was easier this time than it had been the whole week, once Hux settled his strange thoughts into a small space that he then let fall away into the nothing. Nothingness came easier now, but connecting their minds had become the new problem. Hux was unsure of the source. Was it how different they were? Was he simply poor at this? He didn’t doubt that, but generally speaking he was a quick study. He should be able to conquer this, just like everything else. 

“Let those go,” Ren muttered. Maybe they were closer than he thought, and Hux tried to let his concern over his ability fall away with everything else. He floated, quiet and still in the empty space, and waited for Ren. 

Ren had said that surface thoughts, fleeting ones that required little focus, were acceptable during light meditation. While he waited, memories flitted by, important moments from their time in this mess. He settled on Phasma, finding her memory in his mind comforting and calming. It wasn’t that they were friends, exactly, but they were comrades with similar ideals, and he trusted her. 

He let their last conversation replay behind his eyes with minimal detail, unaware of the red-brown wolf that was Ren’s consciousness slipping in. 

It was a scandalized gasp that drew him out of meditation, the real world crashing back into his senses. His eyes snapped open to lock with green ones, rapidly turning brightly pale with anger. 

“Phasma  _ knows _ ?”

Hux fought not to look away from his own face as Ren spat the words angrily at him. He knew immediately that he should have told Ren earlier, but well, in a strange way it wasn’t any of his business. Phasma had been his tether to sanity, having her know about the hell that was his current life made it all a little more acceptable, more real, more than just a nightmare he couldn’t get out of. He pulled in a large breath, angling back Ren’s giant shoulders. “Yes, Captain Phasma is aware of our situation.”

Ren stood up, wobbling slightly. How long had they been sitting? “You didn’t think it prudent to tell me? Did you  _ tell her? _ ” 

Hux certainly did not like being below Ren, no matter whose body he was in, so he stood, brushing off his pants. They ached. “I did not. She figured it out on her own. I wonder how.” He looked up at Ren, challenge in his glare. Honestly, the man had no right to be angry about this, after instigating the whole thing. 

“You told her.” Ren accused, pointing at him. If Ren’s idiocy didn't kill him, the emotional whiplash certainly would.

“I just said I didn’t, she confronted me. What was I to do, lie?”

“ _ Yes! _ ” The cup on the counter flew off, smashing to the floor near their feet. 

“Oh, very good Ren, fantastic usage of your limited abilities. Would you like your lightsaber back too then?” It was unwise to goad him, but he had never backed down from a fight with Ren. He refused to look at hindsight which told him, given current events, maybe he should.

The datapad went next, cracking the screen on the metal floor, inches away from the safety of the rug. “This could ruin us, Hux, and you told a  _ Captain _ ,”

“She is more than a Captain, if you bothered to learn anything about the Order,”

“This gives us less security in return for what?”

“We have more resources,”

“Oh and hows that?”

“Because Phasma can be trusted to assist us!”

“Doing  _ what _ ? Can  _ she _ switch us back? No? Then she is simply a liability!”

“Can  _ you _ ?”

Silence fell in the wake of their hollering. Ren looked struck, followed by a stormy look overtaking Hux’s light features. Hux somewhat regretted saying it, but pushed it away. Ren needed to focus on the problem, and trust him to handle the logistics. Did Hux pretend to have a knowledge in the ways of the Force? No. He listened to Ren. In turn, he damn well expected the same deference in these matters. But Ren never did as he was asked or ordered, which was why they had never gotten on. 

Ren glared at him, seemingly out of words. He snatched up his outfit, shoved his boots on while Hux watched, and stormed out the door, punching the wall as he passed through. Hux winced at the sound of his flesh hitting metal, but managed to hold his tongue as the door closed. 

\---

Hux’s datapad beeped in a familiar rhythm, and without looking he pressed the answer key.

“Sir, there is something I’d like to speak to you about. Are you available for a meeting before 1600?”

Hux sighed. Captain Phasma had a way of being around when people didn’t exactly want her. True, it was extremely helpful for keeping the troopers in line, but in his personal life it was less than desireable. “Yes, I can meet now.”

“Should I come to your quarters?”

“Why not.” He usually wasn’t so candid, but it was a private line and he was in a foul mood. 

She arrived with little delay, holding a small box in her hands as the door slid open. “Thank you for seeing me my Lord.” she said as he placed it on the desk. 

“Oh, drop the formality Phasma, you know it’s me in here and I haven’t the patience.”

“Of course.” She pulled off her helmet and settled against the wall.

“Well? What did you want to meet on?”

She tilted her head slightly. “I would like to go over the last two weeks of reports from the Stormtrooper program, but I think you need what’s in the box first, given your attitude.”

He was struck silent for a moment, an act that had become exceedingly common as of late. The Stormtrooper program had been the farthest thing from his mind. Really, he hadn’t been thinking much of anything for the past day or so, since his argument with Ren. It was extremely unlike him. Was he getting sick? Without forethought he went to feel his forehead but managed to disguise the move as reaching for the box. No need to look even more pathetic.

Inside was a small bottle of dark liquid, unlabeled. It was probably only sixteen or so ounces, but that was plenty. He grinned at Phasma. “You are correct. I do need this. We can drink and talk. Unfortunately we only have the floor, Ren doesn’t seem to believe in guest seating.” He hauled himself up and went to the rug, then plopped himself down with little concern. Phasma was simply watching him. “What?”

“Nothing, only seeing Ren smile...it's quite strange. He looks boyish.”

Hux knew what she was talking about. One morning, just after the beginning of this whole mess, he had spent a half hour in front of the mirror in the fresher, twisting and contorting Ren’s face into as many expressions as he could think of. Ren’s features were overly open and expressive, the smallest twitch making a clear signal. But Ren’s apparently vulnerability was not what he wanted to think about at the moment. He twisted off the cap, and as Phasma went to take a seat he held up his hand, bringing two glasses flying across the room.

“So you can use his powers then.” Phasma was almost as good as him at concealing her emotions, and he couldn’t tell if she was impressed or concerned.

“A little.” Hux poured them both a generous amount, “Telekinesis seems to be the easiest part to grasp.” He did not mention how he, more often as time went on, used it unintentionally. He took the glass and upended it, swallowing the contents down as Phasma watched, taking a polite swallow from her own. 

Phasma raised an eyebrow as Hux poured himself another shot. “I believe there is something else I should bring to your attention, besides the reports.” she began, and Hux picked up his glass again. 

“What is it?”

“You should be aware that there has been a new crop of rumors beginning.”

Hux let out a long-suffering sigh, and tossed back the shot. He would need it to deal with this. The  _ Finalizer _ was its own little world drifting through space, and even though his crew was impeccably trained and loyal to a fault, they were still only human. The rumor mill was bound to exist, but he did try to keep tabs on the current subjects, in case anyone or anything needed to be stomped out. 

“Well, what about then?”

Taking another sip, this one lasting longer than the first, Phasma seemed to almost be stalling before she cleared her throat with resolve. “They have been centering on you, and Ren, and the both of you. I believe they started after that...incident on KH-3.”

Ah yes, that had been the name of that terrible little scrap of a planet that Hux wanted to forget forever. He looked up at her, waiting.

“Ah, so, there have been some, interesting theories over Ren’s -your- decision to go planetside personally. That’s never happened before. You -Ren- scared the bridge crew half to death.”

Hux held up a hand and Phasma paused. “Alright, I know this is wildly confusing, and  _ I _ am not even immune to confusing my own identity when speaking. But, for the simplicity of it, just refer to us as the minds, not the bodies. You were saying?”

Phasma nodded, looking the tiniest bit relieved at having that choice made for her. “As I was saying. The majority of it is speculation on why exactly Ren went after you. The most tame is that you two have some plan in mind for the Order, and are now working together, despite your outwardly antagonistic relations. The less tame…”

“What, Phasma.” he spat, becoming impatient, “It isn’t like you to pussyfoot.” He poured a third shot, and glared hard at her.

“Sir, I apologize. This is simply irregular. The most outlandish of the rumors seem to pinpoint the source of both your antagonism and the rescue--”

“I didn’t get  _ rescued.”  _ Hux hissed the offending word. Phasma didn’t miss a beat.

“The backup during that mission was caused by a new and blossoming relationship between the two of you.”

Hux blinked at her owlishly. “Oh heavens,” he muttered, and took the shot. 

Phasma had fallen silent, which was bad because Hux sincerely did not want to think about what she had said any more than he strictly had to. Truly, boredom created the most convoluted thoughts. “What else,” he said, keeping his voice low.

“That’s the most of it for you two specifically. Some of the crew, the sharp ones, have noticed that Ren seems...more fidgety. He needs to quit that, you don’t fidget.”

“I’ve been telling him.” Hux reached for the bottle again to realize it had been subtly pulled out of his reach. He scowled but she didn’t seem phased. 

“They also like your hair.”

If Hux had had any liquid in his mouth, he would have spit it out. “Whose?”

“Yours. Ren’s. Both, really. Some of the crew is  _ quite _ taken with your face outside the mask. They think your hair is majestic, or some nonsense. And Ren has been wearing his hair loose for days now. I hate to tell you, General, but the natural look suits you.” 

“Is that your opinion?”

“The crew’s at large, I would say.” She deftly sidestepped the question and Hux wanted to just down the rest of the bottle, which had already been halved from its original contents. 

“I would daresay that there may be a couple of forming fanclubs.”

Hux lunged for the bottle, and Phasma held it up and away. It was then that Hux realized how  _ low _ of an alcohol tolerance Ren’s body had. He flopped almost facefirst into the floor as the world tilted exactly opposite of the way he had expected it to. Managing to catch himself at the last second, his arm crumpled under the sudden impact and he banged a shoulder hard into the floor. Hux groaned in pain and discomfort as dizziness overtook him again.

Squeezing his eyes shut, cheek pressed to the frigid metal, Hux recounted the choices that led up to this moment. He hadn’t been drunk since he was a  _ child _ . 

“Are you-”

“Don’t.” Hux commanded.

She held her tongue, and he pulled himself very, very slowly from the floor. He leveled a hard stare in her direction when he caught the edge of a smirk on her mouth. “You have no right to judge me. I didn’t know.”

“Of course.” she replied, tucking the bottle back into the box by simply reaching over to the desk with her long arms. “But I think, given the circumstances, you’ve had enough.”

“You don’t tell me what I should or shouldn’t do, Captain.” It was rude of him to use rank against her, and he knew it. Hux regretted the words, the smallest amount, as soon as he said them. Phasma, thankfully, wasn’t offended easily, and she shrugged a chrome-clad shoulder. 

“Would you like to go over the reports now?”

“Gods, no,” Hux groaned. He wanted to sleep. Or maybe throttle Kylo Ren. Both.

“Tomorrow then?”

“Fine. Send a meeting time to my datapad, I’ll fit it in.” 

Phasma rose to her feet, drinking down the last of her glass and setting it gently on the desk. Hux very stubbornly sat on the floor, rubbing his shoulder, and in his drunkenness it was difficult to ignore the broadness of the limb underneath his fingers.

With a short salute, Phasma saw herself out, and Hux was alone again. It was hard to be angry, or anxious, or think too hard about things you currently could not change when you were inebriated, he thought, and suddenly he had a brilliant idea.

  
Hux got up from the floor, swaying slightly, and Force-grabbed the bottle from the box.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is posted today specifically for tezzypants, whose birthday it is!! She is lovely.


	12. Kill the Director

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow what a delay. Im sorry everyone. For a bit there real life took precedence, and Ive been on-off sick, and then I had to finish Introduced species because it was /eating/ at me. But here we are. Just this and star town to focus on now. So enjoy, ans in advance sorry not sorry about this chapter.

For once, Kylo was sleeping. It seemed that the General’s body, given the truly ridiculous schedule it was on, gave in when presented with such an anger without outlet. He had stomped for around an entire day after his fight with Hux, commlink left behind in his quarters, managing not to break anyone or anything, and when he returned, passed out directly with clothes and all.

He slept straight through until his next shift, and Hux did not attempt to wake him for meditation. That was probably best. Kylo knew when he was nearing to blow a fuse, but normally he didn’t fight it. Sometimes, he would even instigate it, just to get the feeling back under control. Hux, however, could not be seen in such a state, as satisfying at it would be to ruffle his unflappable reputation. That said, he wasn’t above taking a sick day. He woke long enough to send a message to his second on the bridge, and snuggled back under the covers. Hux’s body was cold, not especially so but enough that the inherent chill of a ship in space built of various metals gave him perpetual goosebumps when stationary. The sheets felt nice on Hux’s skin too. He knew from rummaging the drawers that Hux normally wore a shirt to sleep, but he liked it better without. Hux’s skin was soft. He tried not to think about it much.

He slept through the next two shifts (not his), and when it was nearing, by his guess, the end of Gamma shift he woke. There was a niggling feeling in the back of his mind, like the feeling of being watched. When he was in his body, it was similar to the feeling of being sensed through the Force. 

The feeling was forgotten as the door to his quarters whooshed open, and Hux entered. The man was not wearing his helmet, and his robes were put on in what was probably the sloppiest manner manageable. Kylo was impressed, seeing as the outfit was mostly skintight it was hard to mess up. Still, as the lights went up at Hux’s demand, he could see the misalignment of the shoulder seams, and how the front cut of the robes were off by a few inches to the right, held in error by the belt. His true hair was a rats nest of dark curls, far messier than he allowed it unless he had just come off the high of destroying something. 

He sat up, the blanket falling away from his chest and exposing him to the cool air. Appearance aside, Hux had no reason to be here. Kylo shook his head. Wasn’t he supposed to be angry?

“Ren.” Hux said, narrowing his eyes. 

Kylo tilted his head slightly, ear catching something odd. Was that his voice? Had Hux managed to get him sick? His voice was roughened and slow.

“Hux.” he replied, crossing his arms over his chest. It was unfortunately less impressive with less muscle. 

“Stars, have you been in the sunroom? I can see every freckle on my chest.” Hux leaned forward slightly, at the last moment taking a step towards to bed. 

“What? No. I’ve been going all over the ship, wherever you tell me.” He couldn’t help sounding petulant. Hux gave himself _zero_ free time. 

Hux stepped forward again, leaning halfway over. “You done being a child, then?”

Kylo blinked at him. It took several seconds for the anger to start building in his chest. _“What?_ About _what?_ You taking the liberty of spilling a hugely dangerous piece of information to a _Stormtrooper?_ That’s not being a child, that’s being rightfully angry! How dare you come in here and just-” 

“Oh hush!” Hux spat, putting his hands on his hips. It looked ridiculous on Kylo’s huge body. “Phasma is perfectly reliable. And I _told you_ , I didn’t tell her. She figured it out. Probably because _you_ are a terrible actor.”

 _“Me?”_ Kylo shouted, pushing the covers off of his legs so he could stand. Cool air brushed his legs, clad only in regulation briefs. It was a small favor that they were black. “Do you have any idea how difficult it is to accurately reflect all of your obsessive tics and mannerisms? How do you stand perfectly still for hours? You’re a caricature of a real person!”

Hux was taken aback for a moment, restraightening most of the way. He still had a slight forward tilt. “That’s quite a statement comin’ from someone who won’t show his face in public. Half of the crew thinks you’re a cyborg. Mostly droid, obviously, since you don’t know how to talk like a normal person either.” 

“You know what,” Kylo said, pulling in a huge breath through his nose, “I do want my lightsaber back.” 

Hux looked confused, scrunching his eyebrows in. Speaking of childish, that was certainly a way to look like one. Kylo scowled. “For what?”

“Breaking things. I can’t hit you, and you did offer last time.” He said by way of explanation. He held his hand out and willed the saber on Hux’s hip to him. 

Seeming more together than he had yet in their exchange, Hux threw his own hand out. The lightsaber froze in the air, where it had been shooting for Kylo’s hand. It quivered, torn between their wills. 

“Give it to me, Hux.” Kylo lowered his voice, trying to sound dangerous. It was less impressive than his real voice, but Hux could be menacing if he tried. 

“No.” Was Hux’s tone...sing-song?

“What is wrong with you?” 

Kylo’s distraction was enough of an advantage to Hux, and as Kylo’s focus lapsed the lightsaber shot back and into his ungloved hand. “Ha.” 

He growled. His mastery of the Force should be better by now. The anger made his chest clench and his fingers tingle, and he lunged forward to grab at the saber.

Hux stepped back clumsily, holding it up and away. Kylo reached up and cursed. Their measly two inch height difference seemed to be enough in this situation, for no matter how gangly Hux’s body was, his own body’s hand was just out of reach. 

“What the kriff is your problem, Hux?” he yelled, jumping slightly. To his eternal fury, Hux seemed to effortlessly hold the saber aloft with the Force, several inches above his open palm. Hux laughed mockingly. 

“You! You are my problem, Kylo.”

Of course, the moment Hux said his name, he was jumping again. Kylo startled in surprise. Since when did Hux call him _Kylo_? He bumped into Hux’s front, expecting to be jolted backwards. That was not the case. 

He felt himself pitching forward, as Hux gave way like a rotten tree. He shouted in surprise as they crashed onto the floor in a tangle of limbs and swearing. Kylo distantly heard his saber hit the floor. 

But it was suddenly difficult to focus as his head came up from being pressed over Hux’s shoulder. Their eyes met, and for a moment Kylo was arrested by the color of his own eyes. When he looked at them in a mirror, they were just brown. Now they had a ring of gold around the pupil, and small radiating lines of orange. Despite himself he felt the blood running towards his face. 

To his relief, Hux seemed almost as dumbfounded. He broke eye contact and instead traced all over the face in front of him. Kylo wondered what he saw, looking at himself through Kylo’s eyes. 

“Too many freckles…” Hux muttered, looking away. 

“I like them.” The reply was automatic and utterly unintentional. He knew his face was reddening. How the hell did Hux never let this happen? Kylo seemed to have no control whatsoever over the blush that was rapidly widening over his cheeks. Rather than even attempting to deal with the surprised and almost flattered look that Hux was giving him, he shimmied up and reached towards the lightsaber only feet away. He had always been extraordinarily stubborn and goal-oriented, if he had to lay on top of Hux to get his saber back, so be it.

Hux grabbed his wrist tightly and pulled it back to their chests. “I said no.” His voice was quiet. 

With a tone like that, it was hard not to copy it. Kylo’s voice lowered as he said “I don’t care. It’s mine.”

“Don’t make me have to stop you.”

Kylo didn’t think for one second that Hux would make good on his threat. True, Kylo’s body was more powerful physically, but Hux didn’t get physical. “I would love to see you try, Hux.” He went to reach for it again.

He was yanked back harder this time, and he was ready to spit out a curse when he found his mouth suddenly otherwise occupied. 

Hux had sealed their mouths together in a way that was somewhat less than chaste, given how Kylo had been preparing to verbally chew the other man out. Input flooded his senses and the blood that had begun slinking back to its proper places came rushing back as recognition of what they were doing hit him. Hux did not seem to have the same moment of bewilderment, and lazily swiped his tongue over Kylo’s. To his surprise, Hux’s body did not react in shock and anxiety, but a pleasant little zing ran down his spine. Kylo gave a small deep noise and responded in kind before he could think otherwise, pushing Hux’s tongue back with his own. 

His other hand had come to rest on Hux’s chest, and so he had a very good support to be able to angle his head, deepening their connection. They stayed locked together, silent but for their huffing breaths through their noses, until Hux squeezed his wrist hard when Kylo bit his lip. With a gasp Kylo broke away and opened his eyes. 

_Now_ Hux looked flustered, eyes opening and refocusing in a delayed reaction. Then they widened in comical shock. “Oh, no, we did not just-”

“You just-” Kylo tried to finish for him.

“I kissed you. I kissed _me!_ Kriff, get up Kylo!” He shoved at Kylo’s shoulders and Kylo scrambled to his feet. Scooting backwards first, Hux pulled himself up, using the desk for support. Without another word he swiveled around and left the room. 

Kylo was at a total loss for words or coherent thoughts. He tried not to replay it, but the fresh memory did so anyways. The blood drained from his face, but the small blessing was short lived as it redistributed somewhere else. 

-

Hiding seemed to have become a theme for the pair. Hux, having nowhere to be, kept to his quarters for the day following their little mishap, spending a solid hour pulling Kylo’s- ridiculously luxurious -hair and cursing himself. 

At least he tried to hide, until Phasma came to the door. She knocked sharply and when he didn’t answer she let herself in with Hux’s override code. He knew he’d made a mistake in giving it to her. “What,” he groused, slouched in the desk chair. 

“Sir,” she said, apparently feeling formal after breaking into his room, “you have a meeting with the president of Sonn-Blas in two hours.”

“No I-oh blast.” The pun was unintentional, as was the sudden surge of anxiety. This meeting had been planned for months, to hash out the specs and prices to replace the entire Stormtrooper hand blaster supply, which was edging on ten years out of date. Hux had been so wrapped up in his own problems, he had almost entirely forgotten.

 _He_ didn’t have a meeting, _Ren_ did. A meeting he was woefully unprepared for, and that Hux wasn’t sure he could coach him through in his current state, which was ann exact 50-50 split between horridly hungover and deathly embarrassed. “Well, kriff.” he spat, getting up from the chair and managing to keep his swaying to a minimum. 

Phasma very obviously looked in the box. “Sir, should I acquire medication?”

“Painkillers only.” He could feel the migraine already blooming behind his eyes, but the hangover medication from the medbay made him violently ill, despite doing its job. He got to be perfectly sober as he vomited his stomach’s contents for a couple hours. He wasn’t sure if Ren’s body would react the same, but he couldn’t risk it. 

“I’ll be back in fifteen minutes, then.” She marched out.

Hux let out a breath like a relieved sigh once she left. He knew his secrets were safe with her, that didn’t mean he necessarily wanted her knowing them. He would manage the embarrassment of her helping with his massive hangover later. Forcing down a wave of nausea, he started rummaging on the desk, pulling out several blueprint sheets of prototype blaster blueprints, and bringing the related documents to the front of his datapad. He had looked over these at least fifty times in the last three months. This meeting would be fine, he knew what he wanted. He just hoped Ren could convincingly haggle. While Sonn-Blas was well dedicated to the First Order, they were still a vicious company and would drag every credit they could out of an unsuspecting victim. Hux had never been a victim, and didn’t plan on starting now.

He had the papers well organized and glanced over for memory by the time Phasma returned. She handed over the pills without comment, which he downed immediately. 

“Alright,” he said briskly, looking down at himself and trying to straighten his robes, “I need to send message to custodial to prepare a room, and override a reservation for the best comm channel.” He didn’t say he had forgotten to reserve it, but he had. But he, or rather Ren, was the General of this ship and he could have anything whenever he needed it. And stars did he need it.

“I’ll handle it, Sir. To give you time with Lord Ren.” Hux eyed her, but nodded. It was likely she was being so helpful simply because she wanted the best weapons she could get for her troopers, but he wasn’t the kind to look a gift bantha in the mouth. Unless it was from an unknown source.

“I assume you’ll be at the meeting.” Hux said, still fighting with his robes. He needed a splash of cold water and a good tooth brushing. Phasma affirmed his statement and he said “Good. I will be there fifteen minutes before we link up.”

She left, and he sagged against the desk, wiping a hand down his face, surprising himself again as he always did when he encountered the nose that was more prominent than his own. Well, the meeting certainly had the worst timing imaginable, but he would manage it just as well as anything else. As long as he didn’t act awkwardly, they could probably ignore it ever happening. He picked up his datapad, turned on the holo unit, and called Ren. 

-

The entire walk to the conference room was something akin to a walk of shame that no one would recognize but Hux himself. He was stiff, tired, aching, and easily embarrassed, and although he had taken a quick but satisfactory shower and replaced Ren’s robes with fresh ones (properly worn this time) he still felt grimy. 

He arrived exactly fifteen minutes early, and was both pleased and annoyed to find Ren already there, sitting primly at the head seat across from the holoprojector and looking entirely too put together. 

“Is your comm on?” His voice sounded rough, and for an insane second he wished he had the helmet. 

“Yes.” Ren eyed his face with a hard look, seeing to be thinking the same. 

“I’ll be sitting over here,” he said, moving to the corner opposite him, nearest the holo, “it’s out of range of the projector, and everyone else in the room has already seen you.”

Ren had a quick flash of surprise, but seemed to push it down quickly. “Good. Papers?” He held out a hand, clad in Hux’s smooth leather gloves. Wow, why did he notice that? Hux shook his head.

“No?” Ren asked, sounding insulted.

“No- yes. Heavens, here.” He shoved the papers at Ren, who took them with far too much grace. Damn him. Damn his own body. Damn being awake. The painkillers were kicking in but far too slowly. It was tough enough to think, being in a brain slower than his own. Prior inebriation made it much worse. Hux moved to his seat and plopped down as the first of the other officers entered the room. Good thing Ren usually sat like a child at these meetings, Hux mused as he slid down in the chair.

The meeting went smoother than he could have hoped, despite his slow reaction time. The final price ended up being a full ten percent higher than his projection, but it was still within his budget range. Ren managed not to bungle anything too bad, or throw anyone with the Force, so overall Hux was content to call it a success. He navigated Ren through a few details of the shipment dates and locations, and three hours later the meeting ended. The officers filed out quickly, clearly having other places they needed to be. It had gone a little longer than he’d hoped, but the extra seconds added on to Ren’s reaction time from the comm really added up. Hux sighed, and stood to stretch. 

His shoulders popped audibly, and he almost gagged. He caught Ren smirking across the room, and cursed him. How dare his sass look so right on Hux’s face. It felt like betrayal. “Quiet.” he demanded.

“I haven’t said anything.”

“You’re thinking it.”

Ren gave him a quizzical look. “No I wasn’t.” 

Hux almost slapped his forehead. “It’s not...it’s a figure of speech.” 

Ren’s confused resolved. “Oh. That’s ridiculous.”

“I suppose.” Hux sighed again. He was not awake enough for this. He turned away to leave, needing to cross the whole room to do so. Ren fell into step with him near his seat, and Hux scowled, far too aware of the body next to him. 

It was a blessing and a curse, both of which became glaringly obvious in the seconds when Hux stepped through the door. His foot caught something, the heavy tread of his boot holding firm, and he pitched forward. His arms flailed for a second and the thought flashed _Use the Force, idiot,_ but before he could gather himself to do so, hands caught him by the stomach and arm, arresting his fall with a sharp jerk. His other foot came forward, slamming on the metal floor to regain balance halfway bent over at the hips. 

The hand splayed across his stomach, even through the many layers, seemed to burn. He painfully looked up into his own green eyes, sharp with concern as Ren towered in his greatcoat. 

“You tripped.” Ren sounded incredulous. In any other situation, in any other body, Hux would have laughed. 

“Get off me.” he hissed, trying to keep attention away from them. That hope was abruptly shot as he heard a tittering down the hall. He pushed past Ren, hand sliding off him, and stood tall with the sternest face he could manage, glaring hard at the two women he could see. They stood close together, and one had a conspiratorial hand near her mouth. 

The women looked at each other in fear, bowed to him, said “Sir,”, and absconded around the corner. 

“Are you okay?” 

He turned on Ren, and looking at him caused the heat to return to his face. Stars, how did Ren’s skin manage to _flush_ so hard? “I’m fine,” he bit out, refusing to break eye contact, “I do not require your assistance. _Ever.”_

Ren arranged Hux’s face into one of his best sneers as he watched. “Well fine. I’ll just let you fall on your ass then.” 

“Fine.”

Hux stormed off down the hallway in his best impression of Ren yet. 

-

Once he had become _aware_ of the people that held silly rumors about Ren and himself, he suddenly couldn't stop noticing them.

Twice more he tripped on the ridiculous robes before he gave up on releasing his anger by walking (stomping, he could get away with it) around the ship. He pulled them off when he got to his quarters in a huff, and after a quick comparison to the sets in the closet, found they were unhemmed, adding an extra two inches in length to the bottom. With a snarl, he ripped the damn ends off himself with an extremely satisfying sound. 

“What in gods name is wrong with you, Kylo!” Hux yelled into the empty room.

_“You yelling in my ear is what.”_

Hux dropped the clothes and stood looking quite a lot like an idiot, mostly nude in the middle of the room. 

“Why is your commlink still on.” He asked, voice shaking with rampant embarrassment. Could he not have a moment’s peace?

_“Because, I’m on the bridge. I had a shift. You said.”_

Hux had to take a moment to untangle his horrible speech, though it was improving very slowly, and then sat carefully on the floor. Ren was right. He had told Ren to keep the commlink on during bridge shifts in case of emergency. Hux had been the idiot who hadn’t turned his microphone off. He very, very softly placed his head in his hands. 

“You’re correct. My apologies.”

Hux felt out of control, spiraling away from it the longer he was in Ren’s body. Did Ren always feel like this?

_“Sometimes.”_

Hux snapped his head up. “Was I talking to you?” The question was half anger, half genuine.

_“No. It’s easier to hear you than others. It’s my brain.”_

“Lovely.”

_“But yes. Sometimes. Use it for training.”_

“Me, or you?”

_“Both.”_

-

Kylo stood on the bridge. It was getting more comfortable, settling into a parade rest for hours at a time. Hux seemed to like to walk the bridge, up the center and around each side in a figure eight loop now and again, but he was more apt to settle. It felt almost like meditating.

That was, until Hux screeched in his ear. He jerked his head away from the sound automatically, though he couldn’t exactly escape it, and earned a few concerned glances. He scowled, and they went back to work. 

Settling straight again, he used the driest tone in subvocal he could muster to reply. He had a tingle of a feeling saying he’d succeeded in surprising the anger right out of the other man. He chased it, this natural connection to the Force, and used it to dip the slightest bit into his own head. 

It was easy, like misdirecting weak-minded people, but likely because his own brain was home, it was comfortable. Why had he been having so much trouble before, during meditation? Was it trying to reach _Hux_ that was the problem? 

He kept up a light banter with Hux until a lieutenant caught his attention. 

“General, sir, there’s a notice for you.” the young woman held out a datapad. 

“Why didn’t it come to _my_ pad?” Kylo snapped, somehow irritated by this woman simply doing her job. He had started carrying the pad and everything, dammit. Hux fell quiet. 

“I don’t know, Sir. It came to the comm tower. Secure channel.”

Kylo’s stomach dropped. It had to be his Master. He gingerly took the pad and opened the message. 

_General_

_I have been unavailable but now it is time to meet on an important task I will require of you and Master Ren. I will be able to communicate properly in two days. I expect a prompt response at that time._

The vagueness of the message left Kylo with more knots in his stomach then there was room for. He felt anxious, and started tightening his hands around the pad. They’d managed to hide this so far, but if they were to meet via holo (which he took the message to mean), Snoke may be able to recognize a disturbance. To be sure, he forwarded the message privately to Hux, and handed the pad back. His voice was only slightly strained as he said “Thank you. Carry on.”

“Sir.” She inclined her head and retreated. 

It took only moment for Hux to reply. _“We are ruined, aren’t we.”_

_“Probably.”_


	13. Kill the Director, Please

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I promise I'l never abandon this hot mess. Thanks for sticking with me friends. 
> 
> Finally, the long awaited reveal of Snoke.

He banged his fist on the door, frustrated by the muffled tone imparted by his gloves. He was a moment away from ripping them off and trying again when Hux opened the door. 

 

“What,” Hux growled, and Kylo swept his eyes quickly over and away from his own bare chest, “do you want? It isn’t as if you don’t have the code to this door.”

 

Kylo regathered his words. “I didn’t want to catch you unprepared.” 

 

That color  _ really _ didn’t do anything flattering to his skin. When Kylo’s body flushed it was a patchy thing. He rolled his eyes and pushed into the room, letting the door slide shut behind him. 

 

“Unprepared for  _ what. _ ”

 

“It’s 0200.”

 

Hux blinked. “Oh. I thought-”

 

“You were wrong.” Kylo interrupted. “Despite recent events,” he wasn’t  _ embarrassed _ , but he thought best not to spell it out, “my Master will meet with us in two days and if you cannot keep your mind from him,” 

 

He cut off. He really didn't know what would happen. That this...thing had occurred at all was unprecedented in recent times. Would he be proud? Or would he be angry?

 

“I understand, Ren.” Hux looked something similar to cowed, Kylo was sure that wasn’t really the feeling but his face had a tendency to amplify any emotion on it. “I...apologize for my behavior.” 

 

Kylo looked to the ceiling, as if the words to navigate this conversation would manifest there. They didn’t. “We don’t have time to worry over it anymore.”

 

“Right.”

 

-

 

Kylo spent the next two days in a mixed emotional state between panicked, anxious, angry, and curious. It gave Hux’s stomach and ache he could really have lived without.

 

He and Hux were nearly inseparable, trying to strengthen their connection to the Force and get work done at the same time. It was a tentative connection, the surface level of feelings only; Kylo figured it would be some time before they got to full thoughts, though he hoped they wouldn’t need to get that far.

 

It was the most time Hux had spent actively walking around in Kylo’s body, and there were moments of reprieve in Kylo’s flurry of negativity when Hux managed to do something funny. Unintentionally, of course, but he barked a laugh that he quickly smothered when Hux banged his knee on the underside of a low conference table, and again when he didn’t duck for a maintenance doorway. In spite of the extremely mixed origins of humans over time, they were still in majority shorter than six foot three, five in his boots. It would have been more amusing if there weren’t  _ always _ someone around to see Hux’s fumbles, putting Hux into a bad mood that would ruin the connection as his concentration broke. Then  _ he _ would get into a mood, his anxiety ratcheting up as he struggled to reconnect them. As with most things in the Force, forward effort was usually met with stubborn resistance. Using the Force was supposed to be natural, strengthened through meditation and practice, but you couldn’t make it happen by just wanting it bad enough. 

 

Kylo wouldn’t say so to Hux, lest he drive the man away completely, but he was now catching tidbits of their supposed fans, murmurs between pairs and pleased surprise flashing across the minds of their subordinates as they walked through hallways together. He had scooped the knowledge from his own brain as Hux stewed over it angrily, not long after they had gotten the message from his master. He was vaguely amused, but confused. Where did anyone in their right mind get the idea that himself and  _ Hux _ were a good pair? They were entirely different, and...well, actually, wasn’t that supposedly what the best matches were made from? Not that he would know, he’d never been in love. 

 

In the time they were apart, when they split off to their separate quarters to sleep, Kylo thought hard on recent events. When it was all over, (he refused to think of it as a thing that could possibly never be so), would Hux treat him the same? While they were still quite antagonistic, half of their exchanges spitting some small amount of venom, in the past weeks they had become...comfortable. There were flashes of contentment from Hux when they meditated, excitement when they trained, and not much at all when they went about their daily business together. Kylo smiled lightly. That was actually a large stride, before he had only gotten frustration and sometimes real rage off of Hux when they spoke. Hux was a very angry man, Kylo thought, and it showed in his body. 

 

Flopping backwards onto the bed, Kylo stretched, catlike, and tried to relax. The thing was, it felt that Hux never truly relaxed. Either his jaw was clenching subconsciously, or his hands were curling in, or his back was held tight, or his knees were locked. Even now, staring at the blank dark expanse of the ceiling, Kylo had to expressly tell his wayward shoulders,  _ Relax _ , as they hunched near his ears. 

 

As they pulled down to a normal position, Ren looked over at the left, musing. It was so much  _ smaller _ than his shoulder. Freckled lightly, pale, with a pronounced knob at the top. Close like this, it reminded him of a bird’s wing. Strange comparison, but the softest one he had come up with yet. All of Hux was soft and hard at the same time. His body made sharp angles but his coloration was gentle, besides his eyes. Without any particular intent, Kylo slid a thin hand under his shirt and onto his belly, flat and just defined enough to show effort. The shirt pulled up, he gazed down at yet more soft skin. Hux wasn’t covered in scars like he was. Hux was, dare he say,  _ pretty _ . 

 

Pretty, and an  _ asshole _ . Kylo shook his head to try to throw out the memories of them together, strangely swapped in his mind to pretend they had been in their own skins. He was a grown man and could admit that, maybe, he was attracted to the General, on a surface level. And maybe their time together so far has pushed that a bit deeper. And  _ maybe _ the thought of Hux putting hands, even if they weren’t his, on Kylo’s body got him so excited he had to leave Hux’s presence. He traced his other hand over lips that were thicker than they had any right to be. He didn’t know what Hux had been thinking when they kissed, frankly he had been too surprised and aroused to care, but in quiet moments like this, he wanted to do it again.

 

_______

 

When the time for the meeting flashed without warning onto his datapad, Hux swore angrily. It sounded quite strange still coming from Kylo’s gentle voice, but Hux no longer let the incongruence distract him. He had two hours. Not to mention, he had to move a well-planned meeting with the ruler of a mining planet, Lord Shee-something-or-other, as the two events overlapped. He would be steaming mad if this meeting with Snoke ruined their chances of procuring an alliance. 

 

He tensed. Well, none of it would much matter if the meeting with Snoke didn’t go well. He had truthfully no idea what the Supreme Leader could want with them at current, but did hold hopes. It may be that he was ready to reveal his plans, and the Order would be able to move forward with their plans of domination, with the  _ Finalizer _ at the helm. It may be that he simply wanted a verbal status update, as he sometimes did. Or, Hux thought, emotions plunging back into the cold water they’d felt to be in for the last two days, it may be that he already knew what had happened, and he wanted to see it himself before killing him and Kylo both.

 

To be fair, he didn’t know for certain that they would be killed if they were found out. But Hux had inadvertently crippled his apprentice, and himself, and there wasn’t, as of currently, a solution to those two severe issues. The Force, while failing to scare him, was still an unknown factor that made it impossible for him to fully puzzle out Snoke’s intentions. Even mostly, if he were being honest. Who knew if short tempers and predilections towards violence were inherent in Force sensitives? 

 

He pressed his distressing thoughts aside and went to work. Not exactly the work he was accustomed to, certainly, but a task that was most definitely more difficult than usual. And more frustrating. 

 

Kylo had told him that he needed to take the time directly before the meeting to meditate, and build his mental defenses. ‘They’re already there,’ he had said, ‘what’s left of mine, that is. But ours are different, and while mine automatically give you some protection, your defense needs to be deliberate, otherwise the Supreme Leader will slip straight through.’ 

 

Being uncomfortably obvious, they had both avoided voicing the possible idea of what would happen if Snoke found out. Or even the idea of telling him themselves. They would have to work under the assumption that this was still a secret. Hux felt like a child, hiding a pet from his parents. Not that he ever had, but if he had he imagined it would feel similar. A strange weight of guilt, mixed with apprehension and a thread of true fear. But also, in a small, odd way, exhilaration. Despite circumstances, he was learning things he never would otherwise. And while so far his use of the Force was relegated to petty parlor tricks, it was still a skill to be commanded and it pleased him. 

 

He shook his head, black locks rustling at his ears.  _ Focus _ . More recently, his thoughts had a tendency to tangent away from him. Hux closed his eyes again, regulated his breathing, emptied his mind, and started to build once more. What was fog slowly coalesced into walls, solid yet shifting masses of dark smoke to obscure and also lend strength to the structure of his thoughts. Carefully, he eased the white room back into this space, holding it all together with an effort of will that, after an indeterminate but short time of focus, became secondary in his mind. 

 

When the alarm went off again, Hux opened his eyes. It was as ready as he was going to get. They were out of time. 

 

______________

 

Hux met Ren in the hallway outside the holochamber, with minutes to spare before the connection was made to the Supreme Leader. 

 

Ren blinked at him in surprise, and Hux noted his own eyes were somewhat dull today, the green fading into a mixed greyish. He was about to mention it when Ren spoke. 

“Is that a new cape?”

 

He smiled. “Why, yes it is. Thank you for noticing.”

 

“ _ Why? _ ”

 

Ren sounded vaguely annoyed, increasing the sharpness of Hux’s accent, and he resisted the urge to scoff. The man-child really had no sense of gratitude. “ _ Because _ ,” he said, “the last one was torn to ribbons and covered in two species’ blood after KH-3. I threw it out and ordered this one.”

 

The  _ this one _ in question was of the same material as Ren’s old cape, but actually reached the floor, with a solid hem that barely grazed the durasteel tiling. It was just wide enough to cover his shoulders if he so chose, and the cowl and hood was intact and as spacious as its predecessor’s. It was meticulously triple hemmed and sprayed with a solution to make it durable against the elements. All in all, Hux was quite proud of it.

 

Looking somewhat put-out, Ren tugged on the sleeves of Hux’s greatcoat, draped over his shoulders as Hux himself wore it regularly. “I liked the old one.”

 

“Oh come on, it was  _ disgusting _ -”

 

“But,” Ren cut in forcibly, “this one is fine too. Did you keep any of the other one?”

 

“No.” Hux lied automatically. Then he realized he’d done it and wasn’t quite sure why. 

 

“Shame,” Ren replied, turning towards the doors. “shall we go then?”

 

Hux gave him a steady look, mentally outlining his own profile in the harsh overhead lights. He then turned. “Yes, lets.”

 

___________

 

Thankfully, Kylo had spent enough time with Hux in this holochamber to remember how he greeted his master. As they swept in, a wave of black and solemn spirit, he looked up at the towering projection. 

 

“Supreme Leader, I hope we find you well.” They reached the dais and halted, Ren clasping his hands back. He felt Hux next to him, and was suddenly grateful for his presence when before he would only have been annoyed.

 

“You do, General.” replied Snoke, voice a paragon of calm and mannerisms those of a creature who was assured in their position. Sometimes Hux looked like that, when he was in his element during meetings. The similarity was sudden and jarring, and Kylo caught his breath in his throat. His master didn’t seem to notice. “Kylo Ren,” he said, sliding his huge gaze to Kylo’s left, “I assume you are recovered?”

 

Hux paused, and Kylo felt a swell of panic before he spoke. He shoved it down. Unchecked emotion would only weaken his hold on the slippery walls of his mental barriers. Trying to keep Hux’s brain shuttered, to him, was like building walls with sand. Dry sand.

 

The silence broke after only a second. “Yes,master. The beasts caught me off-center, untethered as I was in the flow of the Force in the caves. It will not happen again.”

 

Kylo blinked, impressed with this lie. He doubted his master had looked at the recording, before the droid had been smashed. 

 

“Of course. You are still not done with your training, I hope you will learn from this lesson.”

 

“Yes, master.”

 

Snole did not waste any time before returning to Hux. “General. There is an opportunity that has presented itself to us. You shall take the  _ Finalizer _ to the coordinates I shall provide. At that location there is a group of creatures that you shall ally our cause with. They are called the Riftari.”

 

_ The Riftari?! _

 

The thought passed itself so forcefully into his mind that Kylo almost blurted it out. Instead he yelped quietly, pretending to clear his throat around the sound. “Excuse me, the Riftari?”

 

“Yes. They have offered an alliance. This will bring the trade route under our control.”

 

“But they’re pirates.” Hux said, voice thick with disbelief, and Kylo’s eyes widened. What was Hux  _ doing? _

 

“Yes, Kylo, they are. I was not aware you were so versed in such matters.”

 

“Ah, no. My apologies, master. I skimmed it from the surface of the General’s mind. I was simply expressing surprise.”

 

Snoke’s eyes narrowed, and Kylo swooped in. “I am also surprised. I believe that an alliance is somewhat against our goals as an Order? They’re...lawless.”

 

He felt Hux’s warm surprise flood into him. What in all galaxies was even going on? They’d never been this connected before. 

 

“Even the lawless have a sense of honor, General. I have felt their minds. They are loyal to credits, and we have enough.”

 

He felt Hux’s frustration, and tried to press further. He felt emboldened, with the strange protection that Hux’s body afforded him. 

 

“Leader, I know we already have several very secure trade routes through pirate space. We have never needed an alliance before.”

 

Snoke was pensive for a moment. “While this is true, they will not be sufficient for our needs in the near future. The...volume and cost of our shipments will rise, we require the security of an alliance.”

 

Frustration was shot through with a spike of excitement, and it zinged into Kylo’s belly and stayed there. “Rise?” 

 

“Yes. There are plans in motion, ones that you will become aware of when the moment is right. Patience, General, and all will be as it should. For now, you shall go secure the alliance. My apprentice will accompany you.”

 

“I will?” 

 

Kylo resisted the urge to stamp on Hux’s foot. It was rude to question his master in such a belligerent way. Somehow, at times, Hux managed to get his normal superior sneering tone into Kylo’s voice and it was maddening. 

 

Snoke gave a critical look that Kylo didn’t need the Force to understand; Hux was pushing it. Kylo stepped in again. “With respect, Supreme Leader, I am not sure why Kylo Ren’s presence is necessary. This is a diplomatic endeavor.” In the back of his mind, far from the walls, his mind supplied needlessly:  _ He’ll be on comm anyways. _

 

Leaning back in his throne, Snoke entwined his fingers in front of himself, elbows on the armrests. “That it is. However, the accompaniment goes both ways. Kylo Ren is going to secure this alliance, and you are accompanying him. Do you see?”

 

“Yes, master.” Hux said, and shot Kylo a look out of the corner of his eye. 

 

Snoke kept going. “If it goes poorly, the might of the Force will be on your side, General, and the might of our most impressive warship will be on yours, Kylo. It is a mutually beneficial arrangement.”

 

“Of course,” Kylo said. “We shall take a contingent of troopers-”

 

“No.” Cut off, Kylo shut his mouth with a snap that he then felt through his jaw and winced internally. Snoke continued unabashed, “The Riftari are cautious people, they must believe they have the upper hand. Leave troopers on the transport vessel, to intervene if needed. Kylo’s ability should suffice for any small squabble. But I assume that will not occur, if you do your job correctly.”

 

Kylo opened his mouth, found himself left with space to respond, and simply said “Yes, Supreme Leader. When are we expected?”

 

“I leave you with their secure channel. Further arrangements are yours to plan.”

 

Kylo inclined his head, and he saw Hux do the same. 

 

“Kylo,” Snoke said, and Hux lifted his gaze, “I hope I do not find your performance wanting again. Center yourself, and take strength in knowledge of your power.”

 

“Yes master.” Hux replied, and at this the image of Snoke shimmered away. 

 

\--

 

“What was  _ that? _ ”

 

“What was  _ what? _ ”

 

The door to Kylo’s room, located surprisingly closer to the holochamber than Hux’s, slammed shut behind them with an angry groan from the mechanics.

 

Hux rolled his eyes at the display, and turned to the kitchenette, fiddling around for a glass. The meeting had left him with a dry throat and his rasp only added seemingly more sass to his retort. “Oh good, yes, break things with the Force, you’re so good at that.”

 

“Maybe I wouldn’t if you’d stop being  _ such a prick _ . And keep your mouth shut for once! Stars, you almost blew us.”

 

He watched Kylo plod angrily to his desk chair that Hux had made great use of and collapse into it. On Hux’s face his anger simply looked petulant. 

 

“I did not.”

 

“You did.”

 

Hux pursed his lips, then realized he had a full glass of water he’d very much like to drink, and loosened them. He gulped down half the glass, and turned. 

 

“I held up the defenses fine.”

 

“You...did. But that doesn't change the fact that you said things I wouldn’t. He got curious.”

 

“But you fixed it.” Hux was enough of a man to admit, albeit in a roundabout manner, that he hadn’t been at his best. He knew when to say that someone else had carried the baton to the finish line. But wasn’t that what Kylo was  _ supposed _ to do?

 

“I did.”

 

Hux raised an eyebrow. Had Kylo lost the ability to verbalize anything else?

 

“You projected into my mind. Coherent words, in fact.”

 

“I did?” Apparently it was Hux’s turn.

 

“Yes, you were quite startled by the news.”

 

Settling his glass down a bit harder than he should, Hux started pacing the room. “It’s ridiculous. Pirates?  _ Outer Rim Aliens _ ? We don’t need that kind of alliance.”

 

“You want to do this on the books then? All cards on the table? Clean credits and Core worlds?”

 

Hux paused mid-turn, struggling for words. 

 

Kylo held up a hand, still clad in prim black leather. Hux’s eyes were drawn to them as Kylo spoke. “I understand your sentiment, and to a point I agree. Pirates and smugglers are no good, and they will let you down. Always. They are not the best way, or even a very good way, for this Order to branch out. But they are also all we have, and in time we will be able to bring them to heel. Either that, or eradicate them. It matters little, it only matters that we get what we need now.”

 

Mouth agape, Hux stared. It was almost terrifying, how much Kylo sounded like Hux in that moment. 

 

“Anyways, when would you like me to call them?”

 

“Who are you and what have you done with Kylo Ren.”

 

Kylo cracked a smile, a gentle look on his face. Framed by his softened hair, he looked almost normal, as if he wasn’t a general with more responsibility than most kings or queens, as if behind his eyes he wasn’t constantly calculating the best action, the least expense, the easiest success.

 

“Why, he’s right there. I haven’t done anything with him.” Kylo waved in his direction. 

 

“Funny.” Hux replied, but it was a faint thing, so preoccupied as he was with revelations of his own person, and also the man inside that person, Kylo. He searched his own face and came up only with strange, poetic words about his own features and thoughts of Ren. He shook his head gently. When he opened his eyes, he was still being looked at.

 

“Are you worried that my master knows?”

 

Kylo was so far off the mark it was laughable, but it was a valid thought. Hux was simply riding on the lofty feeling of not being dead yet. “A bit. But I assume he would have done something if so.”

 

“Perhaps,” Kylo said, leaning forward in the chair, “but perhaps not. My master works in mysterious ways at times, and, now that I consider it, I wouldn’t be too shocked if he were not just testing us now.”

 

Hux mulled the thought over, reaching hand back for the glass. It moved smoothly into his hand and he sipped. “Then I suppose we will simply have to pass. Call them now, I already know what I want to say.”

  
Waving his hand to activate the holo in the desk, Hux saw Kylo smirk. “Yes, General.”


	14. Dont talk to boys theyll break your heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas you filthy animals, take the fluff and like it.

The shuttle  _ should _ have been cold, but with how many layers he was perpetually bundled in, it was a wonder that Kylo’s body didn’t overheat daily. That said, Hux was acceptably warm as they made the trip from the  _ Finalizer _ to the stronghold asteroid of the Riftari. With a little hyperjump, they were only an hour or so away, and this not long yet not brief travel time gave him little time to gather his nerves and shove them as far away as possible.

 

Ren and himself had taken a couple days to plan their meeting. There were many factors they could not control, but did their best. Hux pulled enough strings to get them a decent idea of the little hunk of rock, and Ren had surprisingly come forward with some information on the Riftari that had not been on the official record, and together they had devised a plan of attack. Really, it was to be so straightforward as to be laughably simple.

 

The concern was, as always, their predicament. For some reason, the idea of trying to pretend in front of strangers was infinitely more nerve-wracking than in front of his officers, although these people didn’t know him at all and would have no inkling that he wasn’t who he claimed. Most of the people who met Kylo Ren didn’t leave the exchange alive, after all. There was very little possibility that they would have even a clue how Kylo Ren spoke or acted. But a secondary and valid concern was just the opposite. Nowadays, at times it was a bit difficult to separate himself from Ren, to feel individual. It wasn’t a bad feeling, necessarily, but when this was all over they would need to be alright in their own skin. What if he acted as Ren  _ too _ well? At what point, living in Ren’s mind and body, did he cease to be Hux?

 

A chime sounded through the shuttle, the pilot letting them know that they were descending. Hux shook his head, banishing the stray thoughts of what-ifs. They would do this, succeed, and move on. As much as he didn’t want to.

 

-

 

“Don’t interrupt me, alright?” Kylo hissed as they moved down the ramp. “I know what to say, so just...be intimidating.”

 

“Is that what you do?” Hux replied, amused. Kylo resisted the urge to growl at him, pasting on Hux’s normal passive expression as they came into view of the Riftari guards sent to escort them. They made no effort to speak, blasters hanging from holsters across their chests, only waited until they had approached to turn and lead them in.

 

The complex was minimally appointed, and Kylo wondered if a lack of imagination was a requirement to be part of the Riftari. It wouldn’t be surprising, the pirate group didn’t even have individual names, opting instead to go by title. It was winding, irritatingly, as it made it much more difficult to memorize their path. After a few minutes of walking, they came to a chamber. 

“Wait.” One of the men demanded, and entered the room without waiting for a reply. 

 

They did. What choice was there? But Kylo couldn’t help the impatient tapping of his fingers behind his back, the rest of his body still as a statue. Some days, he was sure that Hux had been  _ born _ holding a parade rest, it was so ingrained into his posture. 

 

It was another minute, but the double doors opened and Kylo assumed that was their cue to enter. He swept through with confidence, Hux trailing behind him, secondary but still equally visible. It was...strange, being in front. His whole life he had been behind somebody, intentionally or not, while it seemed Hux made it his life’s effort to push towards the front in all situations. Command suited him. Kylo, not so much. He had goals, yes, and aspirations bigger than the universe was wide, but he did not need to be in front of an army, or a senate, to accomplish them. He only needed them at his disposal. In that, they were well suited to one another.

 

The Riftari Leader was of course on a throne, as often was the case. Kylo, over the years, had seen many men and women assume thrones that were little more than a symbol, especially out here in the backwater or space otherwise abandoned by the larger bodies of rule, clinging to a semblance of control that never worked out anyways. When did a ruling body of few last more than a short time? Even the Republic broke down, remolding itself over and over trying to keep power. It was hard to believe that any sort of rule could last, not in a galaxy so vast and varied as theirs. But building something that would run on its own, even after centralized government broke down? That was worth killing for. 

 

The Leader looked as all space pirate leaders did: dirty, but marginally better dressed and armed. The Riftari were a ragtag bunch, made of a wide variation of intelligent species, near-human and otherwise, all realizing that money was often more easily acquired in a group than individually, at least when you weren’t the fastest ship in the fleet, metaphorically speaking. 

 

The rough looking alien, species of which Kylo recognized but wouldn't bother wasting time trying to remember, waved a hand for them to approach. How kind. Kylo fought not to let displeasure roll over his face. In his own body he would not wait for an invitation. Lord Ren did not wait for permission, but General Hux had social niceties to abide by. They stopped a respectful distance away, and he greeted the Leader. His ‘throne’ appeared to be partially made from an old pilot’s seat. 

 

They were here to negotiate terms of an alliance, and Kylo began on the agreed spiel that he and Hux has come up with. To be fair, Hux had come up with most of it, and Kylo just memorized it. He had  _ tried _ to help, but Hux had shot down line after line until Kylo huffed angrily and sat back, silent and stewing. It was difficult to stay angry when Hux had kept looking at him with his own dark brown eyes. 

 

In the present, his eyes were covered by the black and chrome of his helmet, still and trained on the Riftari Leader. Kylo hoped that Hux was analyzing the situation, and would give him subvocal warning before anything went south. This truly was not his area of expertise. 

 

The Leader replied after Kylo had fallen silent, asking for, unsurprisingly, much more than what they had originally offered the route for. A monthly fee that included patrols along the path, and assistance with extra towing barges. 

 

Kylo said as much. “This was not the cost that you had originally offered. May I inquire what has changed?”

 

“New interference. New Republic has been sniffing around.” His voice was so rough and clicky it was hard to understand his Basic. 

 

_ “Bullshit,”  _ said Hux, his subvoice in Kylo’s ear without warning,  _ “we would know about it.” _

 

“With respect, the First Order does not require additional assistance. If circumstances change, we could revisit the original price and negotiate from there.”

 

“Circumstances have changed, General, this is the new price. It would be a shame if the New Republic found the new users of this route so quickly if we didn’t have enough credits to watch it..”

 

“Excuse me?” Kylo replied, pulling his head back slightly. Now he wasn’t the best at navigating delicate conversation, but that had sounded very much like a threat. The chances of the New Republic coming out so far was unlikely, the real threat was from other pirates, or enterprising and morally loose planetary governments. If he wanted to be like that, then-

 

_ “Don’t act. He is trying to rile you.” _

 

_ “Obviously.”  _ Kylo said back, taking the moment of silence in their exchange to attempt to gather himself. Staying un-riled was not his strong suit either. It was time to switch tactics. 

 

“There seems to be little we can agree on  then. I would be happy to negotiate in the future when our need is greater. I was under the impression you were desiring this alliance as we were, but I may have been mistaken.” 

 

The Leader looked smug, which was surprisingly difficult given the mandibles on his face in place of lips. “I’m sure we can find more amenable buyers in the Senate.”

 

_ “Kylo-” _

 

That was enough, he’d switch to his own tactics. Kylo couldn’t stand for his insolence any longer. He dropped Hux’s blaster off the clip on his belt and aimed it at the Riftari Leader’s head. 

 

Things moved very quickly then as the Leader whistled, a long vibrating note that had pirates jumping in from hidden spaces around the room. Well, that was unexpected. He was under the assumption that the two men holding the entrance doors were security. Apparently not, but he had already committed.

 

“Would you like to renegotiate now?” Kylo asked, and fired a warning shot just to the right of the Leader’s head that sunk into the stone of the wall behind him. The alien hissed angrily and with a messy cry of the voices of many species, the pirates moved in.  

 

-

 

“ _ Really? _ ” Hux yelled aloud, dropping the lightsaber out of its holster and igniting it in the same motion, mind too focused on the newly instigated fight to think too hard about what his hands were doing. He knew a lost cause when he saw one, there was no stopping this altercation except with force. Kylo was already getting himself surrounded slowly, lone blaster in his hand, while dodging potshots at his feet. They didn’t want to kill him, not yet, but that would change very quickly. He yanked off his helmet, dropped it to the floor, and looked around quickly.

 

He had an idea.

 

Saber sparking in his grip, he ran for the two men closest to him and cut them down in precise, short strokes that he was quite proud of, if he was being honest. Kylo could swing the thing around like a madman, it wasn’t like it weighed anything really despite the resistance of the crossguard, but Hux had always been to the point, and his saber-work would be no different. Suddenly, almost as a physical feeling, the air in the room shifted to one of full hostility. Good.

 

Kylo yelled angrily as he began needing to avoid shots in earnest, and the sharp report of his blaster pierced the air. A pirate dropped like his strings were cut, but the shot was definitely not clean. Hux would have rolled his eyes if he wasn’t so busy making sure the other man wasn’t shot through like a piece of grating. 

 

The pirates got wise, and started moving away from him, realizing that his blade was certainly a short range weapon. They circled the room, being only about thirty feet wide, but halfway around Hux stopped, realizing that he did not want to get caught on the opposite end of their direct exit. He held his ground, trying to unfocus just enough to feel the Force to assist in naturally deflecting blaster bolts. 

 

The Leader was still in the room, having carefully moved from his chair and to the guard of two men. That wasn’t good, either. It was true that eventually he would have to run out of pirates to throw at them, but until then they had a very good chance of getting shot. Two versus an unknown number wasn’t really great odds. 

 

“Behind!” He heard Kylo shout, and he had just enough time to turn on the men sneaking behind him. Their heads fell to the ground in a one-handed flick, cauterized and clean, and Hux grunted with the force of the swing. Ren was holding his own for the moment, rolling out of the way of a volley of shots and squeezing off a few of his own.

 

After another few seconds of combat, Hux knew that something had to give. He couldn’t get where he needed to be, couldn’t strategize properly with the saber in his hands, and this needed to end sooner rather than later. 

 

“General!” He yelled, voice blessedly unmangled by a helmet vocoder, and pushed his intentions at Ren in his mind. 

 

He had no idea if he was doing it right, anytime they had sent emotions or thoughts to one another it had been accidental, but Ren’s gaze snapped in his direction. Without hesitation, Hux powered off the saber and lobbed it at the other man across the room. When it had gone halfway, Ren seemed to catch on, and tossed the blaster in his hand towards him. Hux caught it, and thumbed the print scanner as he wrapped his hand around the grip. He hadn’t told Ren, but the reason that he couldn't find the blaster just after they had switched was because Hux had squirreled it away immediately. He’d added his...temporary print to the scanner and reinforced the casing, just in case. There were few things he got attached to, and his blaster was one of them. He wouldn’t have Ren making a mess of it.

 

Feet sliding out into proper stance, he aimed and fired with the ease of years. After that it was over quickly. The two men protecting the Leader fell to the floor, a shot between their eyes each, and Hux moved in. He slid around a guard in his way, twisting around under his raised arm, shoving him forward with the Force, and shooting him point blank in the back. A high sweeping kick knocked the blaster from the Leader’s chitinous hands, and a front kick put him to the floor. Hux shoved the blaster against his forehead and said, “I guarantee my trigger finger is faster than you. Surrender.”

 

The alien’s arms were raising, but he lowered them again slowly. The chaos of the room ground to a halt. Checkmate. 

 

“It seems the impasse has been broken.”

 

“I believe it has.”

 

They took another ten minutes to finalize the details, surrounded by smoking corpses, but they did secure the alliance similarly to how it had been proposed, if only with more First Order security. 

 

“I didn’t know you were a marksman,” said Ren as they left the chamber.

 

Hux glared, helmet tucked under one arm, and stormed back towards their transport.

 

-

 

As soon as they made it back onto the ship, into a private room away from the resettling troopers that they had dragged out for the sake of walking back in relative safety, Hux whirled on Kylo. 

 

“Five minutes on the surface,  _ three of which we spent walking _ , and you can’t keep it together! You’re lucky I was able to diffuse that.”

 

“ _ You? _ ” Ren asked, looking uncharacteristically flustered, sweat shining on Hux’s normally immaculate brow. “ _ You _ couldn't keep your hands on your own damn weapon could you?”

 

It was the most flimsy, transparent deflection, and they both knew it. Still, for some reason Hux couldn’t help rising to the challenge. “ _ My _ weapon is here!” He held up the blaster, still warm in his hand. He hadn’t let go of it, too keyed up on adrenaline, and an irregular low thrum of anxiety. “Which, obviously, wouldn’t be strange if I was in the correct body! Remember that little fact?”

 

“Of course I remember,” Ren hissed, and he looked truly Hux-like at that moment, with a full sneer and narrowed eyes, and Hux wondered for a faint moment if it was strange that he found that exhilarating. Did he have the same fire in his eyes that Kylo did now? Or did the mind behind the eyes change them? He realized, through the fog of anger, that he never really had taken time to look at himself.

 

“I could strategize much better with the blaster, which I may note saved our lives after your inability to act professionally.”

 

“He threatened you!” Ren snapped, then seemed to backpedal, “Us! The Order.”

 

“Amazingly, I can speak and understand Basic as well as you Ren, I know exactly what he said. But you can’t kill your way through every problem!”

 

“I wasn’t trying to!” Throwing his hands up, Ren turned away, stalking over towards the small kitchenette and curling his hands around the edge. Hux followed with his eyes but stayed firmly in front of the door. “I was trying to threaten them. Fear is a great motivator.”

 

Hux privately agreed, but he couldn’t verbally, not now. “How did that work out for you?” He asked condescendingly, rubbing salt into the wound he was trying very hard to open. Ren had to  _ learn _ . 

 

“It normally works fine for me.” Ren replied, his tone vaguely regretful but with a thread of accusation. 

 

That was enough. Hux marched over, grabbed his own arm in a grip he knew would bruise, and forcibly turned Ren around. He brought their faces close together, enough to see the freckles spattered lightly across his nose and eyelids.  _ Like stardust _ , he thought, then pushed it away. 

 

“You aren’t you, you’re  _ me! _ The faster you accept that, the faster you can  _ be you again!  _ You are not Kylo Ren, and you can’t kriffing act like him!”

 

Kylo blinked, delicate red lashes fluttering once and then settling again. “You’re right.”

 

“Of course I am.”

 

“Kylo Ren wouldn’t do this.”

 

Hux copied his motion, blinking once. “Do what?”

 

Kylo grabbed him by the chin and kissed him.

 

Kylo’s other arm was still trapped in Hux’s grip, and Hux clenched it hard as a beat thrummed through his chest in shock. He kissed back, momentarily, unthinking, and when his lungs reminded him to breathe he snapped to his senses. He took their bodies away from each other in a swift step back, getting longer distance than he would with his own legs but the farther the better. He imagined his lips burning. How had this happened again?

 

Hux gave Kylo a look, stunned and somehow betrayed, before turning to escape.

 

“No!” Ren barked, the tone so authoritative that Hux paused out of drilled-in instinct. “We are not doing this again.”

 

He recovered quickly. “Doing this?” He gestured between the two of them. “You’re correct!”

 

Kylo looked exasperated, stepping forward. “No, you know what I mean. Running away. Pretending.”

 

“Pretending  _ what _ ?”

 

“That we aren’t connected now, and you don’t feel it!” 

 

“It certainly doesn’t mean I need to kiss you! I don’t even like you!”

 

“Then what happened last week?”

 

The memory came back as if he’d only kicked a light layer of sand over it, as opposed to his attempt to bury it deep enough he’d never remember. As they’d learned, the mind did not always work as you’d hope. Hux squeezed his eyes shut in frustration. 

 

“I’m waiting.” 

 

“Oh shut up.” He snapped, angry again. There was a possible way out of this, but it was embarrassing as all get out. “That...I was...inebriated. It was unintentional. And it  _ wasn’t _ going to happen again.”

 

He expected Ren to be angry, or hurt, or even just annoyed. But to his confusion, Ren looked thoughtful a moment, then simply calm. 

 

“Alcohol removes the uppermost layers of inhibitions, and urges truthfulness of desire. It just means the act was more honest.” He looked thoughtful again. “Though it does explain things. You were acting really strange.”

 

Hux groaned, running a hand angrily over his face, feeling the bump of Kylo’s long nose and dip of his sharp cheeks. What a reminder that he did not need at the moment. “This is insane.”

 

“It isn’t. It’s...different, yes, but not insane. Are you more upset that you may be attracted to me, or to yourself?”

 

That was just it, wasn’t it? There was no sort of explanation for it. Hux once spent every day looking at himself in the mirror in the morning, every night at bony white joints and thin frame, and he never once found it alluring. But remove him from the green eyes, set him across, and put Kylo in them and...well it really was unbelievably strange. But it was not something he was ready to admit to. 

 

“The Dark side tells us to admit to our passions, to utilize our ambition and emotions to push our abilities to their limit. If this is what I want, I will not fight it.”

 

“Do you?” Hux snapped angrily, “This is the first I’ve heard of it. Not two months ago I’m sure you’d have rather run me through with that technological nightmare.” He gestured to the lightsaber, daintily clipped onto Hux’s uniform belt at Ren’s waist.

 

“Things change,” Ren replied, still calm. It was infuriating. “That is the nature of-”

 

“Oh it can be the nature of my foot for all I care.”

 

“The human mind, actually, but close.” Ren quirked a little smug smile that looked entirely too attractive on Hux’s wide lips.

 

“Don’t smile as me,” Hux said poutily, feeling somewhat defeated by the mutiny of his own mind, “you’ll ruin my image.”

 

Still smiling, Ren moved forward again, putting them back into arm's length. How could he be so put together? In such a short time span their lives had been turned upside-down, or rather criss-cross to be more accurate, and every day was a challenge for sanity.

 

“Do you think…” Hux said slowly, keeping eyes on the First Order patch on his uniform, a patch that Ren’s outfit certainly didn’t have, “that I am interested in you...because I  _ am _ you? Where do we separate?”

 

He looked up in degrees, to see the cocky expression sliding off Ren’s face. For a moment he looked unsure. Good, at least he wasn’t the only one now. As Ren got less anxious over the situation, he seemed to become more so. They needed to carry this burden equally. 

 

Ren looked around the room, then settled back down to meet their gazes. “I think it’s something we can’t afford to worry about. No matter what caused it, it simply is now, and working against it would be detrimental to our goal.”

 

“Wouldn’t not worrying about it be easier if we ignored it entirely?”

 

“You know that isn’t how it works.”

 

Hux sighed heavily, “I do.”

 

Ren reached out, and Hux waited until his pale hand touched his shoulder to react. He let it sit, just a moment, to pretend he could enjoy any of it and that he wasn’t quickly losing grip on his well-deserved anger, and then he shrugged it off. “Ignoring it is different from putting it aside. We don’t have time to get distracted. We don’t have time to worry about who is who. We need to focus on switching back, and then whatever follows will be handled then.”

 

“I’m not asking you to get distracted,” Kylo said, “I’m asking you to be open to your feelings. The Dark side of the Force is emotional freedom, you’ll have better control over your...my…” he scoffed, annoyed, “ _ our _ , whatever, powers if you work under that assumption.”

 

Hux couldn’t help it, sometimes stress made him laugh. It had been long enough that he almost found this whole mess normal. “Right. Okay, sure. So it’s all for the cause. Of all the ridiculous things-”

 

Kylo kissed him again. After another moment, Hux forcibly pulled their mouths apart, but didn’t back away. “You do that again and I’ll deck you. And you know I can.”

 

“With  _ my _ muscles,” Kylo snorted, “how is that fair?”

 

“You kissed me with my mouth, nothing is fair anymore.”

 

“True,” Kylo mused.

 

Hux sighed again, and created some distance between them. “I’m still angry at your idiotic idea of negotiation tactics. We can discuss that later. I’m tabling  _ this _ discussion for now, you need to speak to the troopers before we make it back to the  _ Finalizer _ .”

 

For once, Kylo didn’t look frustrated to have to do his job. Truly they were both going crazy, there was no other explanation for it. “Yes sir, Lord Ren.”

 

“Shut up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is specifically for tezzypants, who never gave up on me of this story. Merry Xmas!


	15. And this is my head, and this is my spout

Of all the things to lose the affinity for, meditation was by far the worst. 

 

It wasn’t even that he couldn’t do it, he  _ could _ , but after ten minutes his mind would wander, going down different little paths that all ended up with him thinking too hard, which you certainly can’t do if you’re trying to clear your mind. 

 

Kylo had been trying to meditate by himself on and off for weeks, to no avail. In his own skin, it was one of the only things that kept him level, created a space for him to let it all go, Light and Dark, and let things be simple. 

 

But, he mused, flat on his back in the refresher, used as a fill-in meditation chamber with the lights set at five percent, he didn’t seem to need it so much recently anyways. He wasn’t so angry, or short-tempered, and his limited access to the Force meant he didn’t feel the push-and-pull of it undulating between Light and Dark inside him. He used to wonder if he and his grandfather were the only ones to feel it so strongly. As he because older, it mattered less. It was what it would be, and he simply needed to follow the script of his destiny.

 

A destiny that was still horribly derailed at the moment. He looked down Hux’s lean body, the sharp planes of the ribs sloping into a flat stomach barely visible in the lights, or lack thereof, and sighed. It was a  _ nice _ body, but it wasn’t  _ his _ . 

 

And what of their last conversation? They’d both gotten a horrible dressing-down together by Captain Phasma after they’d returned, who had squirreled a microcam onto his uniform and had seen the whole thing, but after that they had gone their separate ways. A couple days had passed, but Kylo couldn’t find it in himself to bother the General in his skin. Hux probably needed time to process. Kylo was very act first, think later, but even he had taken time out to consider what in stars he was feeling in this instance. The attraction was there, no question, but was it wise? Kylo decided he didn’t care. Would things change when they switched back? He decided it didn’t matter. Ultimately, it was better to do as your emotions guided you, as long as they did not pull you in different directions. 

 

Kylo yawned, rubbing his back in a side to side wiggle against the rug on the durasteel floor. He really should get back to trying to meditate. 

 

-

 

When he woke, the lights were brighter. That was strange, Kylo had never realized they were on some sort of motion timer. He got up, feeling light. Maybe Hux’s body just needed to give in to rest after all the excitement of the Riftari. He rolled up from the floor, and found he was in uniform, complete with trenchcoat. 

 

Ah, a dream then. Kylo had always had an accidental talent for lucid dreaming, which had in turn made his affinity for Force visions apparent when he was young. Usually, the visions came when he was meditating, and apparently he had fallen asleep in that attempt. He would have to make double the effort when he awoke, but he hadn’t been able to lucid dream since being shunted into Hux’s body. He might as well let it play out.

 

He strode out of the refresher, falling into Hux’s usual militaristic gait, and passing through the bedroom he found nothing changed. Upon entering the front room, he found the door to the corridor open. If Kylo had one guess, it would be that that was the way the dream was leading him. Who was he to deny? He could change the dream, make it whatever he wanted, but the line between Kylo’s mind and Hux’s brain was a thin one, and he was interested to see how they overlapped in a dreamscape while he was aware of it. Maybe it would bring further insight to their predicament. 

 

Through the door and out into the  _ Finalizer’s _ cool halls, he wandered, letting his feet take him forward without thinking too hard about where he was going. His boots made the same sound as always, except muted, as if he were listening to it through a poor recording, but the swish of his overcoat was a regular volume. Every noise seemed to adjust until it was all at the same decibel. 

 

What a orderly thing, Kylo thought, strangely pleased. 

 

The lights got brighter as he spent more time moving, and it was unclear whether it was distance or time affecting the change. It wasn’t as if Kylo was going to stop moving specifically to find out. Finally, they were full brightness, white enough that Kylo found he had a hard time seeing clearly, and he reached the end of the hallway. He had turned at random, never moving up or down a deck, but nonetheless he had reached doors that looked exactly like those to the bridge, despite them being three decks away. 

 

The bridge doors were almost never closed, truly they were only to be closed in case of emergency, and Kylo had only seen them closed when the ship was running drills on critical failures of the hull or on the possibility of boarding by hostiles. However, his dreams were often ones of many closed doors, and it wasn’t a surprise to find another. The blinking light next to the entry pad was not red, however, and so it wasn’t locked. He waved his gloved hand over the pad, and the doors opened. 

 

The light was next to blinding on the bridge, enough so that he could barely make out the edges of the central catwalk, and nothing at all of the very fore of the bridge. Suddenly, Kylo felt pulled, the feeling of fire in his chest and it seemed as if a burning green bird fluttered behind his eyes, sending bursts across his vision. He stumbled forward, through the light with his arm raised to shield his eyes, and still the flooring was sure under his feet. Here, every noise seemed to echo into cacophony as opposed to down into nothingness, the room turned into an amplification chamber in all senses. Kylo knew well of those, too, as part of Snoke’s intensive training. When he was a younger boy, on the cusp of manhood, he had near to no control over the intensity of his powers. One minute, they would be almost dormant, besides the voices he would pick up without intention. The next, he would be a maelstrom of Force, unable to center and therefore at the mercy of his gifts. The chamber had bombarded him with input until he had no choice but to retreat inside himself or lose his mind. The way was brutal, but had worked. When the Force moved through him like a whitewater river, he simply retreated. 

 

This was not like that. He had to move. Felt that if he didn’t, he would fall into a permanent cycle of sound. The burning in his chest was also increasing, spreading down and curling in his abdomen, snaking into his limbs. 

 

Kylo lengthened his strides, sure he would reach the end of the catwalk. He had to. There was no way back, it was nothing but white. 

 

He felt the difference as soon as his boot touched the rubbery grip that separated the front console area from the catwalk, and that connection blew away the intangible environment. Silence, and the lights were  neither bright nor dim. When before he felt burning, this was an emptiness, a lack of tactile feeling. The loss was agonizing in a way that was entirely unexplainable, like grief, or love. 

 

The front of the bridge was entirely unchanged, but there were figures upon it. Hux, swathed in Ren’s deep blacks, lower back pressed against the console, faced away from an expanse of space that was empty of color. Surrounding him, six beings of various sizes, their details indistinct. 

 

Hux flashed green, a halo of panic. His eyes were far too clear to be made from the stuff of dreams.

 

This wasn’t a dream. This was a vision. The Knights closed in. 

 

“Kylo!”

 

-

 

Kylo tore from the General’s quarters like a rabbit with a fox on his tail. He scrambled up from the refresher floor, jumping nimbly over the shards of glass that littered it from the apparent explosion of the lights over the vanity. Clad in only regulation pajamas he sprinted down the hall, but none of that mattered. His heart might as well be a rabbit’s, with how fast it was beating, and he used it to spur him faster. 

 

He didn't see Hux himself until they collided in the hallway. It was lucky that they had been looking forward, and both men managed to rear their heads back before the hit, skidding until their chests and knees collided painfully. Hux cried out, throwing his hands up and snagging in Kylo’s shirt, halting his fall as Kylo grabbed his arms. It would be undoubtedly comical to the outside observer, to see the mighty Lord Ren clutching onto the protective form of General Hux, but for one blessed moment they were still alone. 

 

“Ren,” Hux panted, chest heaving and bare. He must have been sleeping as well.

 

“It’s okay, it’s okay.” That was a blatant lie, it was very much  _ not _ okay, but Kylo thought it best to calm Hux down before he broke something with the Force. “It was a dream.”

 

Hux, apparently, wasn’t having any of it. “It is certainly  _ not _ okay!” He looked up in the ring of Kylo’s thin arms, dark eyes wide and shining and clearly wild with panic. “Force nonsense aside, and we  _ will _ talk about that, that was  _ not _ a dream.”

 

It was, at the beginning, but Kylo supposed that was a moot point. Subtly, he began to lightly knead the muscles of his own upper arms. It was hard to tell how utterly ripped you were from inside your own body, but by stars, he was. Thankfully, rather than only being a greedy desire on his part, the motion seemed to be calming Hux. His shoulders drooped, and he sighed.

 

“Kylo,” Hux said, quiet, and Kylo shifted his gaze. Hearing his name, not his title, was a treat even if it came from his own voice. “It wasn’t a dream.”

 

“No. How did you know?”

 

“This.” Shakily, Hux extricated one of his hands from the fabric of Kylo’s shirt, and reached to his back. He pulled his datapad from his waistband, tapped it on, and handed it to Kylo.

 

He hadn’t even thought to look for his own pad’s flashing light before bolting out of the room. Hux was practical as always. On the screen was an encrypted message, recently unscrambled by the decryption program. 

 

_ Arrival: 034 standard hours _

_ Expect entire contingent _

 

“Well, kriff.” Kylo muttered, and that seemed to be the switch that set the other man off again. Hux started whispering urgently.

 

“What do you mean? They can’t come here. How did they even get this message through--”

 

“Come on, not the hallway.” Kylo grabbed Hux's hand, overly warm and still grasping, and yanked him back towards the General’s quarters. 

 

Kylo marveled at the feel of their uncovered hands together, which should have been strange but instead felt right. He could feel the callouses on his palms, and the bluntness of the tips of his fingers. To his eternal surprise, Hux didn’t even pull their hands apart when they passed a pair of stormtroopers on patrol, but could assume the glare on his long face that said ‘breathe a word and you’re done’. 

 

They stumbled back into the front room, and Hux beelined for his desk, plopping into the chair and smacking the computer almost violently until the holoscreen activated. 

 

“So?” Hux said, staring intently at the menus as they flicked by, the tremor of his voice lowering to something more manageable. Kylo watched the reflection for a moment in his eyes. 

 

“So. They’re coming.”

 

“ _ Why? _ How?”

 

“They have their own ships, you know.” In fact, every Knight of Ren had an Upsilon class shuttle like Kylo’s. 

 

“I know that,” Hux snapped, “they came from my fleet. I meant-”

 

“I don’t know why.”

 

“Are you--I--not the Master?”

 

“I am.” Kylo replied. He wasn’t going to bother with the mess of identifying each other by their bodies. “However, we are not always a cohesive unit. Hence why I stay with the fleet more often than not. Maybe the Force signaled they should come. Maybe Snoke did and he hasn’t told me yet. Maybe they need to recover from a mission. I don’t know.”

 

“Well then we find out and tell them to change plans!”

 

Kylo sighed, a sound of frustration and also genuine regret. “If only. I don’t control them like that. If they say they will be here, they will be. You could order them not to dock, but you have no reason to deny their boarding.”

 

Hux looked at him, pleading. “Thirty-four hours. That’s not enough time.”

 

Might as well rip off the plaster. “Given the vision, they may already know.”

 

“What does that mean, then?”

 

“Again, I don’t know.”

 

“What do you know, then, Ren, because so far it feels like  _ not much! _ ” 

 

Hux shrieked this last bit, slamming palms on the desk. 

 

“Hux!” Kylo berated, and swept over to take him by the shoulders. 

 

“Don’t you ‘Hux’ me,” he spat, “you weren’t there until the end.”

 

What had happened? Kylo drew his eyebrows in, but Hux didn’t volunteer the information, and Kylo knew that asking wouldn’t glean more.

 

Hux took several deep breaths, and in the dimmer light Kylo could see the sheen of sweat on his chest. He resisted the urge to give further comfort, but did not release his shoulders, instead loosening the grip into a softer hold. 

 

“The Knights are,” Kylo paused, wet his lips, searched for the words, “intense. They are all strong in the Force, in their own ways. And they are also custodians of the Force. They may be angry that you are now in possession of some of that power, but then again they may be simply curious about the events and willing to delay any judgment.”

 

“Judgment?”

 

Kylo looked himself in the eye. “I am the Master because of one thing: my power. I am the Force user with the deepest well and most complete control. If I am no longer in possession of those things, it leaves me open to a shift of authority. They respect me, but I’m not sure they would be acquiescing to me being below top form for an extended length of time. I, we, are a liability.”

 

Hux’s gaze went a bit empty for a moment, and Kylo could practically hear the gears turning. “In that case...we have to not be.”

 

“A liability?”

 

“Yes.” Hux replied shortly. “We have to switch back.”

 

“Well yes, but-”

 

“ _ No, _ Kylo, I mean now.”

 

Kylo blinked at him. “We can’t.”

 

Hux stepped back, and Kylo’s hands slid from his arms as Hux rounded the chair and began to pace the room. The visual similarity to their first encounter as each other, weeks ago now, was enough to give him pause. 

 

“We haven’t tried recently. Really, we haven’t tried at all. The concerning factor initially was our health, clearly we have that back, and our connection through the Force, if that is indeed what is required for success,  is stronger than it was when we started. In terms of planning, we have no reason not to try.”

 

It was undeniable he had a point, but Kylo still had concerns. He wanted them to switch back, he really did, but he didn’t want to risk Hux in the process. When had his insecurity turn into care? It must have been somewhere identifiably along the line, but nothing stood out. 

 

“What happens if we fail?” Kylo asked.

 

Hux froze mid-turn, and looked at him. “What do you mean? Why should that matter?”

 

Kylo leaned against the desk with his hip, crossing arms over his chest. “You assume that failure means we just get up and walk away to try again tomorrow. What if we knock ourselves into a coma? What if we lose grasp on the Force, catastrophically or otherwise? The Knights will be here in thirty-four hours whether we are indisposed or not, and if we  _ are _ , we have no way to defend ourselves or otherwise discuss. I’m not sure that’s a risk you want to take.”

 

“Since when did you get good points.”

 

“I’m insulted, but since I became you I have been more sound.”

 

Hux sighed, turned, and leaned himself on the counter. The two men leaned, and thought, and looked at one another across the room. 

 

After several minutes, Hux said, “If they come, and we are still like this...what is the worst case scenario?”

 

“They kill us, of course.”

 

“Of course.” Hux mumbled, and looked pensive again. That expression of deep thought was so utterly Hux that even though he had Kylo’s face, Kylo would reckon that anyone on the ship would know it if they saw it. Still, the look was more brooding than critical, with Kylo’s dark eyebrows drawn down and mouth pouty with thick lips. 

 

“If that is a possibility, we have to take the risk.” Hux announced, a quiet declaration.

 

Kylo let out a held breath through his nose. He had been hoping for a different answer. “If this goes wrong, we can’t take it back.”

 

“If we don’t try, we won’t have any back to take.”

 

Kylo tsk’d. “That’s circular logic.”

 

“Taking a page from your book I guess,” Hux shrugged, then huffed a laugh when he saw the scrunched look Kylo was giving him. “I told you not to do that to my face. Where should we try this?”

 

Apparently Hux assumed the matter was settled. Really, it was, but it was still a bit grating to not be expected to verbally agree. Hux may have been a General, but technically they  _ did _ hold the same rank aboard the destroyer. And besides, the matter concerned them both.

 

“The refresher,” Kylo relented, not wanting to spur a fight before something so delicate, “it is quiet and dark and small, good for containing the energy we will be commanding.”

 

They settled onto the floor and Kylo commanded the lights to full darkness. Being in such a complete inky black was disconcerting, but Kylo had plenty of practice. It was easily to lose yourself, lose a sense of time or space, but in some ways that was part of the exercise of meditation.

 

“What do we do?” Hux’s deep and quiet voice in Kylo’s body cut through the dark, and Kylo blinked in a sudden and strange surprise. His brain said  _ he _ should have said that, but his mind knew that across from him sat his own body. That was good. The more they could trick their brains into believing they were in a different space, the easier it may be to put their minds into those spaces. 

 

Reaching out blindly, he set his palms upon his own knees, and reached for well-known hands. Hux met him, curling their fingers around one another in a tight grip. “Loosen up,” Kylo said, “empty the room. Let yourself float. Just like meditating. Don’t force it.”

 

While he expected a smartass retort, he received only a squeeze to the fingers, then a relief of pressure. In the silence, Kylo could only hear Hux’s slightly-too-fast breath, and began breathing audibly to help them sync. 

 

As it was meant to, time slipped away. Soon, or so it felt, Kylo was simply a formless thing, floating in a sea of emptiness. He moved as the Force willed him, with only the vaguest idea of the goal of this exercise held in the floating mass of his mind. There were no visions on the edges of his consciousness, no alarming tugs of the Force, it only flowed through him. Not as a river, as it usually did, but a small stream, calm and manageable. If only it always felt this way, but then he would not be who he was. Holding back the flood of the Force in him had shaped him into Kylo Ren and he would never take that back, as horrible as parts of it had been thus far. 

 

He floated, but then realized he wasn’t alone. A color, on the edge of his awareness, and he turned in the nothing to seek it. There, right there, a burning heat that could be nothing but Hux. A pure, fiery green that snapped around and flapped like a great bird. Hux’s mind had always been strong, his will indomitable, but with the Force to strengthen him further he was blazing. What a terror he would have been if he had been born with sensitivity. 

 

Kylo reached out, but suddenly found himself stuck. It was just like the first time they had found one another during meditation, he was floating free and then as soon as he knew Hux was there, he felt tethered back. Before, he had tried to reach him by forcing it. That clearly hadn’t worked. So they would need a new plan. 

 

Trying to focus his thoughts without breaking the peace of their space, he sent the image of a still pond, softly pushed by gentle ripples.  _ Calm _ , the thought meant,  _ patience. _ Usually, Kylo has barely enough patience to keep from breaking something, but this was important. They had to be smart. It was so tempting to push forward again, try to instigate their switch with pain as they had done originally, but that might just kill them. The shock of leaving your body was not one to take lightly, he had learned. 

 

The bird stilled, undulating gently against Kylo’s consciousness. They waited, near but not able to reach one another, until the feeling of the tether faded away again. If Kylo focused, he could feel their hands touching, and that connection was something he tried to keep in his thoughts. Which body was his didn’t feel like it mattered. 

 

_ Closer,  _ came the thought, and it was easy to follow. They came together like the inevitability of waves to the shore and the Force flared brightly around them a sharp and hot gold color and something felt as if it clicked into place as their minds touched. 

 

The color seemed to push them apart in another flare, and suddenly Kylo was opening his eyes, flat on his back again. His heart was beating a mile a minute, jack hammering against his chest. But  _ whose _ chest was it?

 

He squeezed his eyes shut, sat up, and opened them again.

 

Brown eyes stared back. 

 

There was a beat of silence, then,  _ “Kriff!” _

 

Their mutual curse bounced around the room, and Hux glared at the walls while Kylo put a hand over his chest. 

 

“That didn’t work.”

 

“Astute.”

 

“But  _ something _ happened.” Kylo pressed. “I haven’t experienced that before. It felt...important.”

 

“It felt like being in a blast radius.” Hux said dryly. 

 

Kylo made a humming sound. “It did, kind of. But it wasn’t painful.”

 

Hux started gingerly stretching his long, muscular legs out to try to stand. “Well obviously I won’t know what it was. When you’ve figured it out, let me know. How long did that take?”

 

“How would I know?” Kylo griped, and rocked onto his feet in a swift motion. His feet and lower legs were almost entirely numb, so presumably a while. Then again, Hux’s body was woefully unaccustomed to sitting in meditation.

 

‘How would I know’, Hux mouthed, exaggerating the words as he slapped open the button for the refresher door. He stopped short in the doorway.

 

_ “Four hours?” _

 

-

 

The next day passed in a blur, and it was a thankful thing it did. Hux was ready to pull his hair out even moment he had to himself to think. It was one thing to say over and over that what would be, would be and there was nothing he could do until then, but it was another thing entirely to accept it. He kept running through scenarios of ‘what if’s and ‘if this happened, we would’, and by the time he’d wrangled it all back in, he had run  through Kylo’s training sequence in his personal workout room without even remembering it. All two hours of it. 

 

After that was the three solid hours of meetings, coordinating an attack on a small Resistance base near one of the First Order orbiting shipyards, one that thankfully the  _ Finalizer _ would not be participating in in any way but to send out a large squad of troopers. It was two or so hours to coordinate that movement and send out the proper clearances, sitting quiet and anxious at his desk.

 

After  _ that _ was coaching Kylo through an inspection of the Stormtrooper training programs, alongside Captain Phasma. Phamsa acted admirably, considering her knowledge of the situation. She dropped no hint, opened no possibility of scrutiny over the General Hux that was not as quick or waspish as he usually was during inspections. It was a tedious, hours-long process, and he was usually deeply critical of the program, being the one to have revamped it from his father’s original concept. 

 

When it was all over, the day cycle was long past. They both collapsed into their respective bunks, and if Hux dreamed of red wolves, he did not remember it upon waking. 

-

 

At 1400 standard time, exactly 034 hours from when Hux received the message, the Knights arrived in a lone black Upsilon. It was absolutely beyond Hux as to why or how they all found a mutual place to get in one Upsilon when they had six, but nonetheless, only one docked in Hangar B  and six black-robed figures stepped out of it. They were silent and stoic, and of course Hux already had himself and Ren on the docking floor before the ship had met the tractor beam. 

 

Hux had rehearsed Kylo in what to say. It was not his first time meeting the Knights, and before Rem had been included, but the other man seemed to have almost no recollection. 

 

“Knights of Ren, welcome back to the  _ Finalizer _ . Would you like to be led to your accommodations, or are your matters pressing? We have a conference room reserved for your use.” Kylo said, and his voice was calm. As for how he felt on the inside, Hux could sense without meaning to that it was a tangle of emotions. 

 

Without answering, one of the taller ones broke ahead of the still collective and made for the doors at a stoic but unhurried pace. 

 

“We meet now.” Said another, an average-sized, bulkier figure with a sword-hammer looking weapon mess attached to their back. Hux had always thought melee weapons were barbaric anyways, but that monstrosity was simply silly. 

 

With that stated, the remaining Knights began walking as one towards the exit the first was now passing through. Hux looked over to Kylo, who was looking back, worried. Kylo shrugged, and moved to follow. 

 

Hux hesitated. If this were about to go poorly, should he alert someone? As he started to walk, several paces behind Kylo, he whipped put his datapad and sent a quick message.

 

_ Phamsa- _

 

_ FYEO _

  
  


_ All KOR on board. May have issue controlling events, given current situation. If I or KR do not check in every half hour, attempt contact. If no reply, send troops to CF-F3. _

 

_ -GH _

 

Well. That would have to be good enough. He set an alarm that would route to his earpiece for every twenty five minutes, and  carefully activated his throat mic while he walked. 

 

“ _ Kylo. I sent a message to Phasma. She is expecting contact every half hour.” _

 

He heard a messy reply in a few seconds.  _ “Won’t take that long. They know.” _

 

Just like that, Hux was fairly sure he knew what walking to a firing squad felt like. Still, they could not run away from this. 

 

By the time Hux entered the conference room, the table that was usually in the center had been pushed to the far wall. The Knights were in a loose semicircle, and opposite them was Kylo, in a perfect and relaxed looking parade rest, but Hux could see the tension he knew so well in his shoulders and knees. 

 

There was a tense silence as Hux moved through the room and came to stand next to Kylo. He figured he would have to be the one to start this possible kangaroo court. Thankfully, Kylo had coached him on how to talk as well. Short and to the point. “Report.”

 

The taller knight that had broken off before, their mask a solidly black front with what looked to be a removable cover over the eyes and a sunken-in covered hole for the mouthpiece, stepped forward again. It was very unsettling. It got worse when they spoke. 

 

“We are aware of what has happened to you, Master of Ren.”

 

Kylo did not give Hux time to reply, to even try to lie. “Then you know I am whole.”

 

“We cannot connect to you as we once did.” Said another voice, and Hux could not identify which mask it came from, only that it was somewhat feminine. 

 

“This is not permanent.” Kylo replied, sounding a bit strained in Hux’s accent. 

 

The covered mask knight scoffed angrily, but it came out as a crackling noise through the vocoder. Again, they stepped forward.

 

“You are not fit to lead.” 

 

Hux saw the knight move, a quick shift of the hand behind their back, and he reacted. Like he was trying to push something heavy away he twisted back, shoulder dropping, and then thrust his hand forward, fingers clawed.

 

Caught what looked to be entirely off guard, the knight shot backwards, off the ground and the fifteen feet to the far wall. They slammed into it hard, the metal of their helmet making a truly cacophonous clang, and did not move. They did not go limp, but nor did their feet budge from their new space several feet above the floor. 

 

Kylo looked at him quickly, and Hux shot a savage smile. He held his arm out stiff, unsure of what would break his concentration to hold the knight aloft. 

 

“You will listen to me, and heed my command. Between the General and I, we carry all of my power. For the time being, we shall lead as a unit. If anyone has an issue with this, speak now.”

 

Silence.

 

“General, release Shione.”

 

Hux reluctantly put his hand down, and the knight dropped unceremoniously to the floor. They caught themselves on a knee, the protective pad scrapping the metal and their head down. They did not rise.

 

“Is there any further problem?” Kylo asked. How he could so composed in such a delicate situation was a marvel to Hux. It shone a new light on the other man, as he had never seen him in conversation with the Knights before. 

 

The knight shook their head. “No, Masters.”

 

Kylo had the audacity to smile, even though their lives had been at risk only moments ago. Hux truly, really did hate when Kylo smiled with his lips, but couldn’t look away. “Good.”

 

“If I may, Master.”

 

They both looked to their left, at a shorter figure in a mask that looked as if it were frowning, with their gloved hand raised halfway, a casual gesture. If Hux had to guess, this figure was of a female slant, assuming they came from a binary sexed species. Calling everyone ‘they’ was bound to get a bit confusing. 

 

“Praeta.” Kylo addressed her.

 

“I believe this could actually be an intriguing opportunity. This is only vaguely mentioned in Force history, and it helps us begin to answer a complicated question of where the Force originates in a living being, the blood or the soul. And from these results,” the knight named Praeta moved forward in a serpentine-like slide of her feet, and Hux resisted the urge to lean away as she got close to him, “it appears to be both.”

 

One of the other knights cocked their head to the side but did not speak. The others stood as statues. 

 

“Yes, we’ve realized that possibility,” Kylo said, still holding himself rigidly. Hux respected his dedication. They may be out of the black hole, so to speak, but the gravity could still destroy them. Best to tread with authority until safety could be assured. 

 

“We still have not truly addressed why you have come so suddenly.” Hux said, taking over the focus of tension. He could  _ feel _ the eyes shifting to rest upon him. “If there is anything the  _ Finalizer _ may assist with, its resources are at your disposal. I am still General, despite the current residence of my mind.”

 

“We felt a disturbance.” 

 

Hux turned his head, looking for the voice. It was hard to tell, but the slight shift of weight by one knight in an angled coat and checkered mask told Hux it they were the likely speaker. They were tall, the tallest most likely save Kylo, and thin, but again fairly formless in terms of possible sex identity. 

 

“Why did you wait?” Kylo asked. “The catalyst event occurred weeks ago.”

 

“Most of us were in the middle of something or another,” Praeta said, having moved on to scrutinize Kylo, “and we wanted to come as one. Besides, it is good to wait for a second event, in case the first is only minor.”

 

“A second occurred.” The tall knight said.

 

“When was,” Hux started, but Kylo looked over and preempted him.

 

“It could have been on KH-3. Or at a different time, when we were fighting.”

 

“When are we not-oh.” Hux fought the blood rising to his face, and instead looked up at the ceiling, hoping gravity would assist. 

 

From the corner of his eye, Hux watched Kylo take a step back from the smaller knight, who was still hovering uncomfortably close. “Praeta, nonetheless, we are not an experiment. If you have any ideas on reversing this issue, you may present them.”

 

“Some of the most powerful Sith lords could move their consciousness into new bodies, but as far as we can tell, this is unprecedented. Therefore, experimentation is unavoidable.”

 

Her phrasing was deeply familiar. “Is parroting your Master a side effect of having connected minds, or did you all go to the same not-Jedi school?” Hux asked, a trace of sarcasm in his tone.

 

Kylo opened his mouth to speak, but Praeta managed first. “Actually,” she said, head cocked to the side in the way the knights seemed to do to denote they were thinking, gleaned from the previous times Hux had met them. Apparently they spent so much time together they shared mannerisms, as Kylo did not so much have the habit. “In a way, we did. Only Shione,” her voice dropped to a semi-garbled stage whisper through the mask, “ _ the one the doesn't like you _ ,” she returned to normal speech while a different knight snorted in the background, “was a Ren before us. He was a sort of caretaker for the whole order.”

 

“That information isn't his business,” Shione growled from the floor. 

 

She turned on a heel. “Nonsense. He’s partly Master now, he gets to know things. It's not as if he has anyone to tell.”

 

“Unfortunately accurate,” Hux muttered angrily. 

 

“Ooh, I can feel your frustration. Can you feel anything from me?”

 

“That’s enough,” Kylo commanded, “you can ask all you want of me, and possibly Hux, later. If you would like to assist in our return to our proper bodies, which I assume you all do, we will do it rationally. Ryyvn, please replace the table. We have other things to discuss, like mission reports from the last few months.”

 

“Ha,” Hux said, “I’d love to hear this.”

  
The checkered mask sighed dramatically, reaching out a hand to said table. “Yes, Masters.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, i now have a concrete end goal for this story, and im thinking that may happen in the next three or four chapters? the rating of this fic might rise a bit, but really, the focus of this story was the tropes/crack, and the enemies-to-friends thing. i hope you guys are willing to see this out to the end with me. its been a long road, but im ready to get these boys to the finish line. 
> 
> hey, and, if you see errors, feel free to let me know. i dont beta my own stuff too much.


	16. They Work Together, They Cant Figure Anything Out

With Praeta’s unending curiosity and Shione’s distrust, the knights ended up staying on the _Finalizer_ for longer than Hux had hoped. He’s said so, many times to Kylo over the last three cycles while the knights had settled in. _They scare the officers_ , and _They disrupt our meeting schedule, Kylo, did you know it is planned two months in advance?_

 _Tough,_ Kylo had replied, and felt smug until Hux gave him a searing glare. He had tried to smooth it over, taking Hux by the arm, but Hux had laughed and shook him off. It hadn’t been his smartest move. 

It wasn’t as if Kylo was being purposefully rude, but there really wasn’t anything to do about it. The knights would stick around until they felt it was time to go, or they got a mission. They had open access to stay on the ship otherwise, they simply didn’t use it often, and so Hux was going to have to suck it up and play nice. 

Reconnecting with his knights had been an effort, but well-won when they managed it. Being in a stable mental link with them was reassuring. Though truthfully it had more been that his knights pulled him in as his mental strength with the Force was still not as great as he would hope. Shione was surly in his mental link and spoke little, but the others were generally as open and calm as ever. Rather, they were once they got Praeta to hush. Once she had, that first night they had been on the ship, Le’ene gently inquired for details of the original incident, and Kylo spent the next couple hours detailing all he could remember and postulated about it while Hux sat nearby and wrote reports. There were thoughtful flares of their consciousness’, however, no one seemed to be any more enlightened than he about what to do, or what caused it. 

“It is easy to speculate,” said Ryvvn out loud, “like Kylo has stated, that the movement of consciousness and power occurred as a result to extreme stress in both minds.”

“It is obviously not ideal to repeat the instigating factors as neither of you likely have the power to be successful.” Praeta chimed in. “Plus, you won’t mean it.”

Hux looked up from his pad. Even without seeing his expression, Kylo knew he was puzzled. “Of course we’ll mean it.”

“What I mean, Master, is that you won’t have those same feelings of anger and hatred that you did when you switched. So no matter what the attempt wouldn’t be the same.”

Hux and Kylo scoffed at the same time, and Kylo turned to give him a look. Praeta had sure gotten used to calling Hux ‘Master’ pretty darn fast. It felt strange, and somewhat irritating. Kylo had earned his title.

“That assumes that the trigger is dark emotion.” Le’ene said, her battered mask tipping sideways as she put her head in her palm. “Should we make that assumption?”

Feelings of curiosity flared in Ryvvn and Praeta. The group did not often share thoughts unless the situation called for that privacy, but their base emotions were always linked when they were together. It made things easier, as they obviously did not often see each other’s faces. Body language in heavy black robes could only get you so far. 

“We can only know what we are told, everything else is guessing. We assume until we can rule out.” Ryvvn replied after a moment.

A snort came from the helmet with the X across the front. Everyone looked, but Kylo felt the mental eyeroll. 

“What?” Said Grazita. “I just don’t think this is getting us anywhere. Act or do not, but we aren’t going to fix it by talking about what we already know.”

Kylo opened his mouth, but Hux said, “True. And we do have other things to do.”

“Masters, we will meditate and read the information we have on old Force societies. We can reconvene at your convenience.” Praeta, as always, spoke up for the group, and Kylo nodded. 

“Same time tomorrow would suffice. Right, _Master?_ ” He turned again to Hux, eyebrow raised tauntingly.

With a long-suffering sigh, Hux agreed.

-

The next day found Hux cloistered in his quarters and cornered by two knights, hours before their decided group meeting time. One was Praeta, of course, and the other was a knight that had not introduced themself yet, in one way or another, with a helmet that had no opening for eyes and a pauldron over one shoulder. 

Praeta began to babble Force jargon that he certainly didn’t understand, the other knight nodding at intervals, and finally Hux broke through minutes later.

“Excuse me, but is there something you needed? I’m actually quite busy.”

“So you weren’t at all Force sensitive before this?” 

Hux blinked. Her directness when prompted was somewhat surprising. The knights didn’t treat him like a General, nor like what he assumed they would treat a Master. In recent years, only Phasma and Kylo would be so casual. It was refreshing, but sat strangely.

“No,” he replied, “I wasn’t.”

“You’re sure.”

“Obviously.”

“Well not so fast, Master.” Praeta crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back comfortably in the chair. The other knight stood behind and to her left, still silent. “You would be surprised how many people go through their lives unaware of their sensitivity. Not everyone levitates items. Some use mental suggestion without realizing, or pick up on feelings. Has anything ever felt off to you? Too easy? Unnatural to humans?”

Of course not, said Hux’s mind immediately, but then he took a moment to consider. He had always had a way with manipulating people, but so had his father, and so had some others in the Academy. They couldn’t all be Force sensitive, weren’t they supposed to be rare in the galaxy? Not that the First Order, or rather its seeds back in Hux’s childhood, had any plan in place for those who were attuned to the Force. The fledgling authority was too busy trying to build ships, train soldiers, and keep its people fed. If they too obviously didn’t conform, they probably died. Not necessarily from any maliciousness, but...different people didn’t fit well in an Order based on a model without chaos. Hux was highly intelligent and impeccably trained, but he very likely wasn’t Force sensitive. What he did when talking to others did not feel like anything he had felt while in Kylo’s body. There wasn’t the same low thrum of power he felt as Kylo. He considered that to be a bodily recognition of the Force.

“My skills are my own,” said Hux finally, “not the Force’s. It doesn’t feel the same as this.”

Praeta considered him, then nodded, an exaggerated motion in the helmet. “Then that likely identifies with certainty that the power you wield now is not yours, and that it comes from something in Kylo’s physiology. That still doesn’t explain why Kylo can still use his abilities in _your_ body.”

“Not well.” Hux replied. “In some ways I can do more than he can.”

“Not to quote old Jedi scripture again, but the Force does flow through all things, even if they are not aware of it. Maybe the pathways of his mind already being carved by that flow means he retains some sensitivity, even if the conduit of your body is not built to manage it.”

With an approving eyebrow raised, Hux said, “As sound a theory as any I’ve thought of thus far. You’re well spoken.”

Laughing shortly, a sound that was distorted strangely through the helmet, Praeta uncrossed her arms. “You seem surprised, though I can’t tell for sure. Have you shared anything with Kylo through the Force yet?”

Suddenly, Hux felt vaguely uncomfortable with the line of questioning. “I don’t, I’m not sure. I doubt it.” 

“I’d be interested to know if you can, if your mind is good for it.”

Hux didn’t really want to share anything else with Kylo, the number of things that weren’t was getting quite small at this point. “I’d rather not.”

She made a hum, more like a buzz through her vocoder. “Would you like to connect to a knight? If this persists, for you to be another Master, you’d need to. Truth can only be truly parsed through the mind.” 

By stars, the thought was akin to a nightmare. Never get back in his own skin? So far, Hux had done anything _but_ think about it, there was no use in panicking as it was only detrimental to the effort of getting results. But to have someone else say it brought the anxiety back up his throat in a wave of bile. 

“Ah, alright, I can feel that. Calm down, Master. Kylo is very powerful, I have no doubt this will be fixed. You have some of the only trained Force users left in the galaxy to assist you.”

Praeta was trying, but Hux knew the only way to get his mind off of it was to think of something else. “What is their name? Do they talk?” He gestured to the knight behind her.

She glanced back, then stood up. “Ah, yes, I suppose you should meet us all formally. This is Eash, and no, he doesn’t talk. He communicates with gestures sometimes, but primarily the Force.”

“He’s mute?”

“He’s a cyborg.” The smaller knight replied cheerfully. “In the event that brought all of us, minus Shione, together with Kylo, Eash’s upper torso was badly injured. Part of his spine, most of his neck, including vocal cords, his eyes, and his heart and lungs had to be removed and replaced. It was a bit of a patch job though, so he didn’t get vocal capability back nor full sight; at this point it's too dangerous to try, and not really worth it. He can communicate fine with the people who matter.”

Eash gave Hux a short hand gesture that he assumed was a greeting. “What, if I may ask, what brought you together? It is all a bit...opaque, to me. Kylo and I were not exactly pleasant to one another before this point, and it wasn’t my concern. I don’t even really know what the Knights of Ren are supposed to _be._ ”

Eash put his gloved hands on the back of the chair, but Praeta didn’t sit back down. She cocked her hip in a way that would possibly signify a proper lady pursing her lips. “That’s a long story,” she said slowly, “and one that is not entirely my own. I think that may be a conversation for Kylo to have.” She paused again. “But there’s no harm in telling you that the six of us have known each other since childhood, and became Rens around when we would have graduated school otherwise. The Knights of Ren are--”

Hux didn’t hear the rest as his mind was overtaken by a wave of input. Flashing images accompanied by overwhelming feelings, and a buzzing took over his ears. The overall effect was...deep. Binding. Grief and elation, the thirst for victory and bloodshed intermingled with the desire to be calm and alone. A piercing brightness and a depthless black. 

“Eash!” Praeta said sharply, and the feelings stopped. Hux rocked back, letting himself settle against the chair back, breathless and stunned. 

“If that’s what it feels like to connect, I will politely decline,” Hux gasped. 

“It doesn’t,” she replied, “just breathe.”

Hux gasped in air, having entirely forgotten that it was necessary. 

Praeta came around the desk and placed two gloved fingers to his neck. “You’re fine. Eash is powerful in mental connections, and naturally a bit direct. He figures since you are Master now, you should be able to take it. He has learned better.”

Eash made an angry-looking set of hand signs, and Praeta scoffed at him. At Hux’s imploring look, she said, “He says you _did_ take it, so he was right. Technicality.” 

“Technicality.” Hux echoed faintly. 

-

“I know what I said, Grazita! He has a meditative form.” Kylo snapped, glaring with stormy grey-green eyes at the big woman across the table. 

It was early morning, and Hux would be busy in his quarters until their only meeting today (an engineers meeting to schedule out the maintenance on the ventral cannons), and Kylo snatched the opportunity to speak with his knights privately. Praeta and Eash had disappeared claiming an actual need to meditate, and Shione stood poutily in the corner closest to the table, but with his current state he was pleased they listened to him at all. The knights, the night before, had retired to their rarely-used quarters for a solid eight hours to research and meditate. They hadn’t come up with much. 

“That doesn’t make any sense, you build one naturally when you have training. None of the younglings that have been found had one. Unless--”

“He was _not_ priorly sensitive, I would have known.” 

There was a stony silence, and an even stonier feeling through the mental link. Grazita didn’t like being interrupted or told she was wrong. Kylo didn’t much worry about it. The simple fact was that Kylo knew what he experienced and no amount of evidence of what happened to others would convince him otherwise. 

Le’ene let out a little sigh. “So you think further meditation sessions would help? That the answer to this is not violence, it is calm?” Her fingers were spread out on the tabletop, gloves off and laid neatly to the side. If there was any knight that Hux would get along with, it was probably Le’ene. They had the same fastidiousness, patience and determination. The only difference was that Le’ene had not been raised in the same circumstances, and therefore her personality flaw was a tendency to speak less when she felt threatened by a superior. Hux would only open his damn mouth wider. Thankfully, there were very few superior to any of the knights, and Le’ene’s mastery of her body and flow of the Force through it made her far from inferior within the group as well. 

She also hated her knight’s outfit, and would take bits of it off whenever she could get away with it. Her helmet was already on the chair next to her, and her pauldron was laid carefully across the arms. 

“I think it's the only real plan I have at the moment.” Kylo said bluntly, dragging his mind back to the task at hand and off of Hux. Somehow, vaguely, he suddenly felt a bit nervous. 

“It isn’t a bad start,” Ryvvn spoke to Kylo’s right, “clearly they’ve managed the change so far, whatever more time it takes is less of a concern.”

“Who else knows?” Shione asked suddenly, his form against the wall, unmoving. 

“You assume someone else knows.” Kylo snapped again, and took a deep breath to calm himself down. His hands were doing that Hux-clenching thing again. His back was rigid as a board. He should _not_ be so stressed around his knights on principle, but Hux’s body had other ideas. 

The knights watched him silently.

“Captain Phasma knows.”

Another thoughtful feeling passed through their link. The knights had met Phasma a few times in passing. As the acting leader of the Stormtrooper program and unofficial third commander of the _Finalizer,_ she had been present at several dockings of knights to the massive ship, and they had all sensed her indomitable will and strong spirit.

“That isn’t the worst choice of confidante.” Le’ene said. 

“I suppose the General would need something. He is strong, but this would shake anyone.” Ryvvn added. 

“Does she have any opinions?” Grazita asked, and Kylo found himself entirely unsurprised. Grazita and Phasma, if given opportunity, would likely get on like a starship on fire. 

Kylo fiddled the button on the cuff of his greatcoat. “She hasn’t been asked. She acts as support to our charade, and I assume an emotional support to Hux.”

“Maybe we should ask.” Ryvvn said, and Shione snorted derisively. Everyone ignored him. Shione would be sore and prickly for a few more days, they found it best to let him work himself out.

They spoke for a while longer, planning when in Kylo’s busy schedule they could find time to meet with Phasma and what else had been happening since he had seen the knights last. An official report had already been detailed on their first night, after the drama of the question of Kylo’s Master status, but they hadn't gotten to detail anything person or small. Kylo felt it was important to keep up with their lives, not just their missions. 

Grazita was just about to begin what promised to be a riveting story of a very foolish junkyard owner on a Mid Rim planet when Kylo felt it.

A wave of anxiousness and confusion overtook him. He clutched the arms of his chair and gasped, eyes staring at nothing as he felt entirely overwhelmed with panic.

“Master?” Ryvvn asked. 

Kylo was out of his chair and out of the room before they could inquire further. 

-

_Hux!_

“Kylo?” Hux asked distractedly, then tried to bat away Praeta’s hand as she fussed over him. 

“Kylo isn’t here, Master,” Praeta said, looking over at Eash. The other knight turned towards the door. 

Less than a minute later, a bang was heard outside the door, and it slid back to reveal Kylo, orange hair a disheveled mess and breathing hard. 

“You need to do more cardio!” Kylo spat nonsensically, then moved into the room and around the table. Praeta dutifully moved back. “What happened?”

Hux focused on him carefully, just a tad nauseous. “More Force nonsense. You all do realize I’m new to this, correct?”

Kylo whirled on his knights, apparently giving up on getting a clear answer from the man in his body. “Well?”

Praeta took a breath in but Eash beat her, moving his hands quickly. After a quiet several seconds, he stopped, and Kylo scowled. 

“That was stupid.” He said plainly. Eash shifted his weight to a more defensive stance. “No more. Unless he agrees first. Understood?”

Eash nodded.

“What in the galaxy is going on? All I feel is well-contained panic.” 

The group shifted their gaze to find Grazita in the doorway, the towering form of Ryvvn behind her left shoulder and Le’ene peeking around her arm. 

“Eash got a little...forward.”

A wave of understanding swept through five people. “Well that was stupid,” Ryvvn echoed. 

Eash flailed ineffectively.

Kylo turned back to Hux, who was looking more than a bit exhausted and unfocused. “Alright,” he said, and swooped down. He took the other man behind the shoulders and knees and hefted him up expelling a heavy grunt of effort. Did he really weigh this much?

“What’re you…” Hux muttered.

“Putting you to bed.” Kylo replied, not looking at his own face as he moved them towards the bedchamber. “You’re gonna want to sleep off the headache.”

“Got work,” Hux complained, struggling with what he probably thought was a lot of effort, but was really just a bit of wiggling. Once Kylo set him on the bed, he sighed and immediately snuggled into the pillow. Kylo watched him for a minute, until it was clear he had fallen asleep.

He walked back into the front room to find that the knights had gathered up near the desk, a big standing pile of black. Kylo picked up Hux’s datapad.

“Obviously we’ll reschedule the meeting.” Kylo said, and the knights nodded. “And I’ll be staying here to manage Hux’s schedule and incoming messages.” They nodded again. “You’re dismissed.”

The knights held still for much longer than ‘you’re dismissed’ would indicate they should, then they turned as a unit and slunk out the door. 

Kylo sighed, looked at the pad, looked at the chair (uncomfortable, he never sat in it) and looked back at the bedroom. Well, no denying where he wanted to be. He’d deal with the consequences later. Tucking the pad under one arm, he went back in and laid down on the bed, comfortably close to the warm body next to him but not yet touching. It was very unlikely Hux would wake up, but he didn’t want to risk it. He fluffed a pillow up behind his head, turned the pad screen back on, and yawned. 

-

Wakefulness came with...warmth. A lot of warmth. Hux shuffled around, but still felt stifled. With Kylo’s robes on he was warm all the time but this was just excessive. Also, was the heater blowing into his face?

No, it wasn’t, he discovered as he cracked his eyes open. His own face, slack with sleep and teeth barely peeking out of an open mouth, assaulted his vision. Kylo was _sleeping with him._

The initial thought was to flip out, naturally. What right did Kylo have to be so damn forward? But then again, he had gone slightly delirious from being overwhelmed with that Force vision. Maybe this was just to protect him. It was his body being put out of commission after all. 

Hux tried to get up, carefully turning over, but a misplaced leg kicked Kylo lightly in the shin, and Kylo sucked in a waking breath. Hands came into the corners of his vision, and he was being pulled backwards. He non verbally protested, making a little noise in his throat, but it turned into a squeak when Kylo rubbed his nose into the back of his neck. He was trapped, wrapped like a naive cadet in a tanglebush as Kylo breathed next to his ear. 

“How are you feeling?” Kylo mumbled, half incoherent with his mouth angled into the fabric of his own cowl. 

“Fine.” Hux replied. That was a lie. He felt like his head had just been physically bombarded as opposed to mentally. His temples throbbed now that he was becoming fully awake. 

Kylo snorted, a sound Hux would never willingly make himself. “Liar. Stay here, I’ll get you some medicine.”

Just like that he was free as the arms retracted and Kylo rolled off the other side of the bed. He watched the slim form wander into the refresher, heard rummaging noises, and then Kylo was trotting back with a glass of water and two pills in his hand. 

Kylo spoke as he handed over the items and Hux dutifully took them. No reason to extend his suffering just to be contrary. “It seems you still have to deal with my body being difficult,” he said apologetically, sitting down on the edge of the bed, “I used to get a lot of headaches when I was younger, when I overstretched myself with the Force, or when…” he trailed off, then seemed to bolster himself and continued. “Anyways, I still get them sometimes, and it is no surprise that your experience triggered one. With consistent medicating, it’s manageable until it fades off in six to eight hours or so.”

“The schedule?” Hux asked, filing away the information and trying to get back to safe, sane ground as quickly as possible. Kylo was still technically in the same bed as him, and it simply didn’t want to compute.

Kylo sighed. “Fine. I handled it. We’ll have time to fit in what we missed later this week. Eash feels bad, by the way.”

“Damn right he should,” Hux said poutily, and lowered himself gently back onto the bed. No use in trying to do anything when his head still hurt. He closed his eyes.

“Hux?”

“Mm?”

“Can I stay?”

Hux cracked open an eye. Ernest green ones stared back, and Kylo held his hands in his lap demurely. Where was this Kylo before, when he was instead terrorizing the ship and breaking thousands of credits worth of equipment? He tried to cover his uncomfortably fond feeling by speaking bluntly. “Why would you?”

“Well I was making sure you didn’t roll off the bed in your sleep or start seizing or something,” Kylo started, “but then I was just sort of content. We have nowhere to be.”

That was true. Kylo seemed so _sincere_ about this whole thing. When had Hux’s life gotten so backwards? “Alright,” he relented, and patted the bed beside him, “but as soon as my head isn’t splitting we go back to work.”

Kylo crawled over Hux, all elbows and golden hair, and settled by his side again, wrapping his arm tentatively around Hux’s upper abdomen. When Hux didn’t fight it, he pulled the other body in closer and shoved his nose into Hux’s neck again. Hux gave a dramatic sigh, but tipped his head over to rest on Kylo’s forehead. After that, though Hux would insist to anyone who could ask that it was the medicine kicking in, it was easy to fall back asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you guys like the knights! They were supposed to be background characters, a bit like Phasma, but then they developed _personalities_ and got all talkative and shit. I love them. 
> 
> Lemme know!
> 
> Only two-ish chapters to go!


	17. So with the angst of a teenage band

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before you get to the end, remember: there is an epilogue coming where all will be resolved.

It was not the next day, but two days later that the knights, to which he was now an honorary member apparently, were able to meet again. Hux’s headache had subsided by night on the first day, but the pushback in his schedule was unacceptable, and he figured that the knights would accept they were the cause of the issue and give him another day. They didn’t go out of their way to say anything, so he figured so. 

 

They settled back into the same conference room that they had when they’d first arrived, but thankfully this time the table stayed where it was meant to be. Hux actually strode in last, making his strange privilege of being Kylo known, and looked around. The knights were in a neat semi circle, and the only realistic spots to sit were...on either side of Kylo. He pursed his lips, but took the one to Kylo’s right. 

 

Maybe he was projecting, or maybe his Force powers were getting better, but the expressionless masks across from him seemed pleased? Smug. Validated? He couldn't quite parse it. No matter what the feeling really was, it made Hux uncomfortable. He shook his dark hair from his face and said, “Well, what have we got?”

 

“You didn’t tell us you had a link with Master Kylo.” Praeta said first, sounding almost pouty behind her mask. 

 

“We didn’t know it was there,” Kylo interjected immediately, “but I know when it could have formed. The last time we tried to switch back.”

 

“So your first attempt through meditation wasn’t successful,” said Ryvvn, “but had this unintended result? You may have been closer than you thought.”

 

“Do you think they can use that new link to pass one another more smoothly?” Le’ene asked.

 

“Sound as anything else we’ve come up with.” Ryvvn replied. 

 

“So we keep with that plan then,” Gravita said, sounding doubting. 

 

Hux put up his hands. “Hold on. You have nothing else?”

 

Praeta sort-of shrugged. “Well this isn’t exactly regular. We’re grasping at ghosts here.”

 

“We need to test the strength of the link.” Unexpectedly, Shione spoke. “If it is not strong enough, it will cause more harm than help. Failing to use it to affect could mean dire consequences.”

 

The group was silent for a moment, whether from surprise or thoughtfulness, Hux couldn’t tell. 

 

“Mm...that is a good point. Could we strengthen it if not?” Praeta asked.

 

“We are getting stronger,” Hux said, tired of feeling like he was taking a backseat to his own life, “without a doubt, I can do more than I did last month. But...I’m not sure that applies to this.”

 

Kylo was looking at him kind of funny, and it was not one of his expressions that he enjoyed leveled at himself. Hux’s borrowed mouth twitched to the side reflexively in response. 

 

Shione crossed his arms. “Anything is possible through the Force.” He said, seeming to ignore Hux entirely. 

 

“Yes, yes,” Praeta replied, and Hux smiled slightly. He liked her pragmaticism and forward attitude, even if he wasn’t as fond of her lack of impulse control. “So we test, then strengthen, test again until we feel we can make a controlled attempt at a swap-back. Now, do we meditate as a unit and attempt to assist?”

 

“Seems like that could put us all in a dangerous position.” Gravita said, and Eash nodded in agreement. 

 

“But could have great reward.” Ryvvn interjected. 

 

Another pause as they all thought it over. Hux was, no offence to Kylo, willing to try almost anything at this point. This madness had gone on quite long enough, and, to be frank, the emotional and mental revelations were enough to put any man at the end of their rope. On top of trying to juggle his duties and keep this all a secret…

 

“It is all a moot point until we can assess the link.” Le’ene said.

 

“True,” Praeta conceded. 

 

Any further discussion was held by the beeping of a datapad. Seven heads swiveled around, and Hux smiled awkwardly. With more sheepishness than he had displayed since school, he pulled the datapad from inside his belt. He blanched. 

 

“The Supreme Leader is calling for a meeting with us,” he looked up, “now.”

 

There was a pregnant pause. “Okay,” Kylo said slowly, “we’ll go. It will be just like last time.”

 

“Not us.” Hux paused. “The Rens.” 

 

-

 

They stood outside the doors for the Supreme Leader’s audience hall. Carefully, Kylo took Hux’s hand. “I’ll be out here, as close as I can be. I’ll still be with you because we’re linked. You’ll feel me.”

 

Hux nodded stiffly. “It isn’t like I need you to block my mind. I did it last time.”

 

Kylo nodded in agreement, but Hux was not assuaged. His confidence was near nil. What if it only worked with Kylo around? What if, without Kylo standing next to him, he lost focus? They’d become strangely dependent on one another and that was worrying, but Hux didn’t have time to worry over much at the moment other than if he was going to survive the next ten minutes.

 

“I feel your fear, Master,” Praeta said, coming to stand in front of their linked hands. Her hips barely reached it. What a tiny creature, thought Hux, his panic causing him to be amused by trivial things. He shook the thought away. Praeta was still talking.

 

“We will all be with you, and if you link with us we can help shield you from further scrutiny. Likewise, Shione is second in command, so depending on the topic of conversation, he can speak for us.”

 

“I don’t know,” Hux said, truly unsure. Eash had entirely overwhelmed him. Did they want to risk that again?

 

“Hey,” Kylo said, and Hux realized he’d been staring at the floor. He looked up. “What do you feel with me, right now?”

 

“Nothing now. I felt nervous earlier, I don’t know if that was you or me.”

 

“It does take time to pick out whose emotions are whose, but what I meant to point out was that you didn’t feel much. You’ll feel more with all of us by virtue of having been linked with seven rather than one, but the same principle applies. You have to make an effort to share, unless the emotion is strong.”

 

Hux took a huge breath. “The possible advantage outweighs the cost.”

 

Kylo looked at Praeta. “That’s a yes.”

 

When they entered, Hux’s trepidation was covered by a wave of calm that was very likely not his own. Kylo was right, there wasn’t much to being linked with seven minds. The link was more like a river, and while it looked still on the surface, underneath was the rushing current of seven sets of thoughts. If Hux dipped in, he could be swept away, but from the banks he could simply look and get a general idea.

 

_ Talk _ . Was the impression he got, pressed up from the river but not breaking the surface tension, as he looked up to the Supreme Leader. 

 

“Leader, we are assembled.”

 

“I see that, Kylo Ren,” Snoke said magnanimously from his holo-throne. “Are the knights well?”

 

Hux found this somewhat puzzling. The knights were loosely lined around him, in full view. Why speak of them in third person? Still, backed by an implanted feeling of urgency he spoke. “Yes, well. They have come from a long journey, and are recovering their spirits.” A blatant lie, but Hux’s mind was not keeping up with his needs at the moment to come up with better.

 

“We find this ship to be suitable to our needs for privacy and communing with the Force.” Shione spoke, loudly and bold even through his mask.

 

“All well deserved, I am sure.” Snoke replied, the condescension almost unnoticeable in his voice. The Leader never spoke this way to anyone else that Hux had observed. How strange. Snoke kept speaking. “However, I believe your respite may be brought to its conclusion early. I have news you may find essential.”

 

Hux held his breath. What news?

 

A ripple of tension ran through the link, but Shione’s voice was steady. “We would be interested in hearing this news.”

 

“I would assume,” Snoke said, “and I would be only too ready to share it, but other matters have my attention. Perhaps if the Rens would be available to help clear my thoughts?” His gaze slid like oil from Shione to Hux. “Kylo?”

 

“Of course, Supreme Leader.” Hux said automatically. Was this how all their exchanges went? This was very clearly a type of bartering for resources. They had no idea what the news was, and if the price for it was too much, but what choice was there? It felt like this was possibly something that had happened before, as there was no surprise from the collected minds.

 

His confusion must have seeped into the river, as he got a response, slid into his mind like a whisper on the rocks:  _ information is valuable, and assured from this source. _

 

Snoke nodded. “Yes, I hoped so. There is a planet in the Unknown Regions, far across the galaxy from here near the Western Reaches, that is being explored by the New Republic resistance. It is in a small system named only UR-35. They seem to think if they can gain a foothold in the Unknown Regions, they can learn more of our movements. This is unacceptable. I would see the might of the Knights of Ren brought upon them. I want them out of our space.”

 

“It will be done.” Hux said.

 

“Good. In this system and nearby the planet I speak of, coincidentally, is a small planet named Urij. A Resistance ship is currently in orbit, and seems to have sights set upon what they believe is a small colonization. I believed this might be of interest to you.”

 

Hux barely stopped himself from asking  _ why _ , and he was nearly overcome with a torrent of emotion immediately following. It was a jumble of anger and anxiousness. “We will remove the threat.” Shione said sharply. Snoke nodded again.

 

“That is what I desire. May the Force guide you.” Snoke waved his hand idly, and the holo cut out with a shimmer of blue. 

 

As the Rens filed out of the chamber, Hux in tow, he slowed outside as the doors closed. Kylo was by his side immediately, having obviously hovered outside. “Well?” He asked. 

 

“Not here.” Le’ene said, putting a quick hand on Hux’s arm. He cocked an eyebrow.

 

“Superstition?”

 

“No,” Shione replied, already walking down the hall. “Surveillance.” He flicked a finger towards the ceiling, and Hux growled. Of course. In Kylo’s body, awareness of those sorts of things had...faded into the background. The alertness that came with growing up under a video feed was not instilled into the larger body. 

 

They retreated back to the conference room, which seemed to be rapidly becoming the Rens’ base of operations. When the door had closed behind them, Shione whirled. “We need to go immediately.”

 

“Shione--” Ryvvn started.

 

“Wait, wait.” Hux interrupted. “Someone is going to explain what is going on before anyone goes anywhere.”

 

Eash came closer, putting his hand up in a gesture that seemed to connect both their heads. Hux looked at him dubiously.

 

“We can show you, while Shione explains,” Praeta said, “and it won’t be like last time, before you ask.”

 

Well, this hadn’t been all bad so far. He sighed. “Fine.”

 

Eash stuck out one finger and placed the tip against Hux’s forehead. The metaphorical river in his mind welled up, and images arose. 

 

There was a planet as seen through a ship’s viewport, small and partly covered in dark greenish clouds. As the ship descended through the cloud layer, the ground could be identified as a tannish color similar to his own skin, and flat but for large, rounded hills. On the distance, rain of an unknown substance poured onto the landscape.

 

“Urij is primarily deserted, given the climate. The rain is acidic, contributing to a high rate of erosion, and makes the surface generally uninhabitable.” Shione’s voice overlaid the images. “It is, however, unique in that its rock is easily carvable and then hardened with the application of heat, which the planet doesn't get much of due to cloud cover.”

 

The ship landed, and Hux realized this was something like a memory. But whose? As he focused on parts of the memory, blocking out the strange landscape, he could see black gloves on the edge of his vision, and a vaguely anxious feeling. Was it Eash? That seemed reasonable. 

 

‘Urij became home to the Knights of Ren a hundred years ago, when the first Ren broke away from another Force organization. Sith or Jedi or other, we don’t know. They were alone, or with very few followers, for nearly fifty years. The creation of the Separatists, and then the Empire, spurred others into seeking out and following the ways of the Ren. We are only the second formal grouping of Rens. The first fought in the shadows of the Galactic Civil War.”

 

The memory figure walked forward, and the air through the mask, to Hux, felt humid. Then again, any air off of a starship would feel humid. In the moderate distance, a larger hill raised from the ground, the tan substrate hardened into an almost bone white color, tinged only slightly with a yellowish hue. Entirely flat on the front, it was easy to see six darkly dressed figures standing loosely assembled before the building. 

 

“By virtue of our uses of the Force, we are Dark. But we only truly form as a unit when the galaxy is in flux, and we follow the side of history that the Force shows us is most likely to succeed. There is no good or bad, only victory, and the end of war. If, to succeed in that goal, death and destruction occurs, it is the will of the Force. The short but poignant history of the Knights of Ren resides on Urij.”

 

The figures resolved slowly, and Hux was able to recognize the outfits of Praeta, Shione, and Le’ene  Then, the taller form of Ryvvn, the wider Grazita, and then the last was Eash. So this memory was...the person of the memory looked down, and on their belt was a crossguard lightsaber, shinier than it was at current, but now Hux would recognize it anywhere. 

 

Kylo. This was Kylo’s first journey to Urij. 

 

The memory ended as the Rens turned away from Kylo to enter the building. As his normal vision returned and Eash retreated, Hux immediately looked to Kylo, who with Hux’s face was looking uncomfortable.

 

“Yes,” said Shione, the deeper intonation in his voice dropping away, “the Master’s memory was easiest to show you, as your mind perceived it as normal.”

 

He decided to ignore that. “So Urij is important.” Hux said, somewhat obviously.

 

“Very,” Praeta said, “it is our history, and our home, what small comfort it is. It is very doubtful the New Republic would find the exact location, or even be able to get in, but as Snoke already knows where it is, we would want to endeavor to keep knowledge of it away from opposed parties.”

 

Hux scrunched his brow, a habit he knew was borne of Kylo’s body. He did it anyways. “Why would you let Snoke know?”

 

“It wasn’t on purpose.” Grazita interjected. “His Force connection to Kylo is unique. It was taken from his mind.”

 

An awkward silence settled over the room. Hux had known the Supreme Leader had the Force, but a unique connection? What did...that mean? Was it something he should have felt, his mind residing in Kylo’s body? 

 

“You are only fearful when you do not understand something.” Ryvvn observed, and Hux remembered with mild embarrassment that he was still connected to the Knights. It was strangely easy to forget. “But the connection was primarily created by time. Time is a flimsy thread.”

 

“Enough.” Kylo said, putting Hux’s brisk authority into his voice. He wasn’t half bad at it now, if Hux was being honest, which he would only be on threat of death. Kylo’s ego didn’t need inflating. “We go to Urij.”

 

Hux scoffed. “One,  _ we _ go, not you.” Kylo went to speak again but Hux barrelled over him. “Two, I’m not done asking questions, and I deserve to ask. Does anyone think that the Supreme Leader is aware of us?” He gestured between Kylo and himself. 

 

The knights physically looked between one another, and the river in his mind seemed to rush by a bit faster. Finally, Praeta spoke. “We can’t be sure. His machinations are more complex than our own, and there may be reasons not to say anything about it. We don’t try to search his mind. It would break trust.”

 

“From my observation of his behavior,” Shione said, “he very likely knows something is wrong. He likely knew as soon as we all arrived to this ship together. But it doesn’t matter.”

 

“How do you figure that?” Hux asked, baffled and a little angry. 

 

“You are a Ren.” 

 

“ _ And? _ ”

 

“He can’t do anything to you.” Le’ene supplied. 

 

Kylo stepped forward, and put a hand on Hux’s elbow. “They’re right. I didn’t think of it either. But as a Ren, you now sit in the same hierarchical space I do, to a degree. We follow the major aims of the First Order, but in terms of Snoke, he would be claiming to have dominion over the Rens if he tried to bring any retribution against you. In your body, I am now similarly protected. When we switch back, maybe not, but at that time the point becomes moot.”

 

Feelings of relief washed over Hux, but it was shot through with doubt. “You’re sure.”

 

“Well no,” Praeta said frankly, “but we work  _ with _ Snoke, not  _ for _ him. There is also seven of us and one of him. It is not odds I would recommend anyone bet against.”

 

Hux considered. He had never questioned the Supreme Leader’s authority, but the argument made sense. 

 

“We’ve got nothing else to go on. Trust them. Trust the Force.”

 

Hux was still a bit dubious in ‘trusting the Force’ but the conversation seemed to be ended, and the Rens took the lull to sit back down. Kylo sat next to Hux, and in a way Hux felt comforted by it. Whatever happened next, they had to be in it together. 

 

“We need to leave for Urij soon. The Resistance is entirely unpredictable in this area of the galaxy and we do not know when they will act.” Kylo said.

 

Hux shook his head in surprise and leveled Kylo with another pointed look. “I already said you aren’t going.”

 

Kylo sneered. “What are you, my parent? I need to go. Do you think you can handle it?”

 

“With the other Knights and backup, yes. You shouldn’t go because there’s no official reason to, and you’re the  _ commanding officer of this ship _ . Did you forget?”

 

“I didn’t forget,” Kylo spat, but he seemed angered more by his own predicament than at Hux. 

 

“No backup.”

 

Both heads turned from their argument to Shione, looking ominous with his mask’s yawning mouthpiece in shadow. 

 

“What do you mean no backup?”

 

“Exactly what I say. We will handle it on our own.”

 

“What about the other planet? We have no information. They could have set up a base already.”

 

“We will handle that when the time comes as well. The priority is Urij.”

 

“But--”

 

Kylo shushed him and Hux looked at him angrily. He wasn’t a  _ child _ . “Hux,” Kylo said, “I know you want to do this by the book, but there is no book for this.  _ Our _ knights don’t need backup.”

 

“What if I need it? I’ll be down there.”

 

Praeta laughed. Not derisively, but with a bit of mirth clearly at his expense. “Master, any of us would die for you. We will protect you, but we’ve also been assured you can protect yourself.”

 

Hux threw his hands in the air. Dramatic, but necessary. “I’m not really your Master!”

 

“You’re not really  _ Kylo,”  _ she clarified, “but if Kylo thinks you’re worthy to be called ‘Master’,” she paused for effect, “then you are.”

 

No retort came swiftly to his thoughts. He didn’t understand why Kylo thought as such, and a nagging bit of his mind said Kylo was saying so just to save their skins, but he had no choice. The Rens wouldn’t budge, that much was clear.

 

In the silence, Kylo gently spoke. “Hux, have you ever seen multiple competent Force users in a battle?”

 

He sniffed. “Obviously not.”

 

“I know the First Order keeps some small cache of holos from the Clone Wars. Maybe give them a viewing.”

 

-

 

“Mother of moons.”

 

Hux and Phasma sat close together, sharing his desk screen as a holo played out upon it. It was from the perspective of the Separatist droid army, and as they watched a man wielding a lightsaber flew at the camera and sliced it in half, ending a three minute recording. 

 

The man, as Hux only knew from passing references and a single photo in his old history textbook, was Obi-wan Kenobi, master Jedi. Also on the battlefield were three other Jedi of differing species interspersed among a clone force of likely only fifty. They had gone against an army of nearly three hundred droids...and won. 

 

Suddenly, Hux was very glad that there were almost no Force-users left in the galaxy, and the ones that were, were on their side. 

 

“So…” Phasma started, “I have some observations.”

 

“You’re free to share them, Captain.” Hux replied numbly, still in a bit of shock. He found it impressive when he could lift the mug off the counter with the Force. Force-holding Shione had been his most impressive move to date. 

 

“So first, the Jedi were fighting droids. Most of those droids had a very limited processing capacity. They could aim and shoot, and even that wasn’t great. They couldn’t adapt or react with haste. The Separatists often relied on high numbers to overwhelm the enemy. Skill didn’t really factor in.”

 

Hux nodded. 

 

“Counterpoint, the Jedi almost always held back. They didn’t use a lot of their skills in battle, especially not against sentients. The Knights aren’t concerned about sparing lives or a weird moral code.”

 

Hux shrugged agreeably.

 

“Last, this was a head-to-head battle. I doubt it will be like that wherever you’re going. The Resistance is wily, but not powerful. But they could have tricks up their sleeves that an army doesn’t. They aren’t really comparable, in my opinion.”

 

Hux sighed. “All your points are noted, and I have to say I agree. Their power with the Force isn’t what I’m questioning, it is that there was too many unknown variables. We haven’t come this far to lose to poor planning.”

 

“I agree General.”

 

“So we plan for backup anyways.”

 

“Certainly.”

 

-

 

Kylo and Hux had set up their normal comm system at Hux’s insistence, but secondarily Hux allowed Kylo to clearly establish the link between their minds as well. He’d refused the whole group. “I need to focus,” Hux said, “I can’t be distracted by sudden feelings or thoughts. Just use a damn comm.”

 

The Knights, reluctantly, relented. Praeta and Shione, as second and third command, were fitted with comms that linked up to Hux and Kylo. With that, Kylo watched them clamber into their single Upsilon, without him, and head off to Urij. It was a relatively short hyperjump away, but it felt like a galaxy’s distance. 

 

So Kylo did the only thing he could, the only thing that made sense and that Hux wouldn’t yell at him for: he went to the bridge. When he got there he saw Captain Phasma, standing at parade rest near one of the wall consoles, but he didn’t say anything to her. Surely she was here because she knew where her superior officer (and friend?) had gone, and she wanted to keep an eye on things. It was somewhat comforting to have her around. To know that he wasn’t the only one worried. 

 

It seemed, however, that she had other plans.

 

“General Hux.” She said, and he paused half ways down the center walk. He turned slowly.

 

“Captain.”

 

“I wanted to speak to you privately.”

 

That was all she said. No request, no room for argument, and Kylo looked around with just his eyes but no one seemed concerned by her phrasing. Apparently Hux and Phasma had that sort of working relationship, as he knew that Hux would tear a new one into anyone else (sans Kylo) who spoke to him with such a lack of respect. 

 

“Of course.” He gestured with a hand to the doors out of the bridge, and she led the way. 

 

They turned down a maintenance hallway, and she stopped, turning. She pointed to his ear, her black-and-chrome gloved hands large and in his face, and then made a cutting motion across her throat.

 

He got the hint. With a button press, the comm muted. 

 

“I know what is going on today.” She stated without preamble. “But there’s something you should know.”

 

“Speak, then.” Kylo might have to trust Hux’s judgment, but that didn’t mean he had to like Phasma.

 

Her chrome helmet’s eye-slit seemed to bore into him for a moment, then she said, “There is a hyperjump-capable transport ship on deck C, with thirty of my finest troopers on it, and a space for their General. It leaves when said General, either of them, gives the word to do so. It will be going to UR-35.”

 

That sneaky little monster. Kylo should have known. But this wasn’t so bad, was it? At least the backup was still on the destroyer, and if things went well, as he was sure they would, it wouldn’t even need to leave that hangar and no one (the Knights specifically) had to know.

 

“I have a direct line to him as well,” Phasma continued, tapping her helmet, “and the authority to pass down his directives. I will not hesitate to do so.” 

 

Kylo growled, which turned into a quite funny noise in Hux’s chest. “Fine. But don’t send off the transport without me.” If things were to go spectacularly wrong again, he would not be left behind.

 

He was deep in thought as he walked back the short distance to the bridge. His own voice rang out in his ear.  _ “Kylo? Do you read?” _

 

Kylo stopped in the hallway. Easier to just talk here than try to subvocalize on the bridge. “I do.”

 

A pause.  _ “Kylo?” _

 

“What, Hux.” 

 

_ “Kylo, can you hear me? The atmosphere is a bit strange.” _

 

Looking bewildered, Kylo looked around for anything or anyone that could be causing the problem, and then stopped. He dropped the tenseness that had built up in his shoulders. Mute. Right. With an exaggerated sigh at his own stupidity, he pressed the button again. 

 

“I do read you. I was indisposed.”

 

_ “By what, my reflection?”  _ Hux snapped.

 

Kylo blinked. “Well, no, but now that you say something,”

 

_ “For kriff’s sake, that was not what I meant to say. Don’t mention it again.” _

 

Despite himself, Kylo laughed. “I’ll assume you made it to the planet.” He was very reluctant to say ‘Urij’, as if someone might be listening. Actually, that was very likely. 

 

_ “We did. We had no trouble shooting down the enemy craft, but then we had to land and assure there were no survivors. We are now heading from our ship to the enemy’s. Ryvvn said that it was hovering far too close to the temple.” _

 

The breath caught in Kylo’s throat. “Did you see it?” 

 

_ “From the outside, yes. It looked much like the memory I saw. It felt...reverent.” _

 

Kylo took another few steps away from the bridge, paused, and then kept walking until he was back around the corner. “That place has existed since before the Empire. If we lost it…”

 

_ “I think I can understand. We’re getting to the ship now. Looks to just be a scouting vessel. I’ll check in again when we get to the other planet.” _

 

Not bothering to say goodbye, Kylo muted his comm again, and adjusted his collar against the throat mic. 

 

He stood on the bridge for an hour, being particularly irritable and snapping at his subordinates when they dared to speak. Plasma’s stance, still posted in the corner, was a clear opinion on his behavior, but he couldn’t help it. He had a bad feeling. For regular sentients, a gut feeling was more than likely the Force shifting how it connected to their life without their awareness, so for Force users a gut feeling was most assuredly the Force speaking without words, trying to warn the user of something, good or bad. Kylo’s gut feeling was almost a physical discomfort, a clenching in his abdomen and he held himself extremely stiff to combat it.

 

As he expected, something went wrong. 

 

_ “Kylo,” _

 

Kylo stood up impossibly straighter.  _ “Yes.” _

 

_ “Don’t panic. I can feel your worry from across the damn galaxy. We made it to the other planet but Grazita is seeing signs of a possible ambush. They knew we were coming, probably from a distress signal on the other ship. We were careless, but we are trying to find weak points before we proceed.” _

 

_ “How big an ambush?”  _ Kylo asked, anxious.

 

_ “Your speech is much worse when you're stressed, you know. There’s a small base setup, can’t be more than fifteen ships in the yard. We wouldn’t expect more than fifty people on site.” _

 

Fifty wasn’t bad. Fifty was manageable. It wasn’t as if they could all attack at once anyways, and besides, each knight could easily take five or more enemies at once. 

 

_ “Alright. Be careful.” _

 

_ “Frankly, Kylo, I have rarely felt safer.” _

 

Happiness bloomed in Kylo’s chest, and it took all of Hux’s body’s drilled-in composure to hold himself back from smiling like an idiot. Maybe after all this...maybe there’d still be something for them to build on. Hux’s new-found trust in him and the knights was  fragile but oh so necessary. For Hux to verbalize that trust? Something to remember. 

Silence reigned for another hour and Kylo paced the bridge, a war between joy and anxiety raging in his chest. When a navigator addressed him from her chair, he Force-choked her for one annoyed half second before letting go, surprised at himself and blinking as she coughed. She apologized, thinking she had swallowed some of her own spit. As he answered her question, he saw movement from the corner of his eye. 

 

Phasma had shifted her rifle as she moved, marching swiftly back to the bridge doors. Without acknowledging anything else, Kylo followed. As the doors closed behind them, she turned. 

 

“I’ve gotten word to send backup.” She said, grave.

 

“What? He hasn’t said anything to me!” His voice went higher in his sudden spike of fear, and she held a hand out.

 

“Hush.” She paused, more still than a feline before pouncing, then put her hand down. Turning, she started down the hallway and Kylo kept pace. “He’s too busy to switch lines. It appears the ambush was a trap for a bigger ambush. There’s at least two squads of X-wings that have appeared out of hyperspace, and they knights just caught wind of the plan before they could get pinned. They’ve moved positions but there isn’t much to use as cover so they’ll have to fight their way back to their ship.”

 

“How long until we can get there.” Kylo didn’t care for the logistics, he got straight to the point.

 

They strode through the bay doors, and the transport ship stood as promised, the all-white of thirty troopers inside all at the ready. The engine was already running. “A few minutes.”

 

“Thirty troopers might not be enough.”

 

Phasma stopped and turned her helmet towards him with menacing slowness, but after a moment relented. “Possibly. I’ll send another ship directly after this one, but I assume you do not want to wait.”

 

“No,” Kylo replied, and moved up the loading ramp. “I expect the second wave in ten minutes or less.”

 

“They’re already on their way here, sir.”

 

Kylo nodded, and the door between them closed.

 

He checked over his blaster and loosened his limbs during the jump, and relegated himself to the back of the trooper formation for when the doors opened. Everyone knew the first men out were the most likely to get shot. The doors opened onto a strangely quiet scene.

 

That was, until the troopers stepped out.

 

From their right, a barrage of blaster fire roared across the yard. Half of it hit the ship, which took the brunt on its shields, but the other half peppered the trooper regimen, and several men dropped immediately. They turned, focusing a return fire as Kylo ducked behind, watching their six for another hidden spot of Resistance. He didn’t see anything, but he heard,  _ “Kylo!” _

 

He felt Hux like a spark on the far left of the yard. “Hux!” He yelled aloud, uncaring of whether he confused anyone. Out of the cover of a cargo ship, Hux emerged in full attire, helmet on and tunic billowing, and behind him fanned the other knights. 

 

Like a switch flipped, Resistance poured from behind a tall stack of shipping crates, blasters raised at the knights. At least twenty five by Kylo’s quick count, but he wasn't going to risk it with blaster fire still streaking across the open area perpendicularly.

 

“Troopers, six!”

 

They were well trained, Phasma had promised, and they kept to her word. In a ragged line, every other trooper twisted a one-eighty and re-aimed towards their six, sighting easily on the gaggle of fighters. They opened fire without hesitation, and Kylo felt a savage pride that he could not confirm as his own or Hux’s. 

 

Still the Resistance advanced on both sides, and each trooper lost was a huge percentage tipped in favor of the enemy. They were being flanked, even with the knights making their way slowly to the left group, having to block a torrent of blaster bolts to keep moving. The red and orange of several sabers whirled in precise arcs, and some red blaster fire landed true into the enemy ranks. Still, they were grossly outnumbered. 

 

“Why did you come!” Hux yelled, the helmet making the voice dark and angry. The angry part was definitely correct. Oh well, Kylo thought. 

 

“Ask later, fight now!” Kylo yelled back, and demonstrated by firing into the left group. The right was more of a threat, not being held down by as many adversaries, but Kylo couldn’t bear to turn his back on Hux. He’d more deeply analyse that later.

 

His stubbornness cost him as a stray bolt winged him, and his steadying arm jerked off his blaster with the pain. He cursed and tried to shake it off, but he saw Hux pause, his head swiveling to look. 

 

Hux advanced, trying to split from the knights to get to Kylo, but Le’ene grabbed him by the arm and barked something that Kylo couldn’t hear. He wanted nothing more than to run to Hux, but the intensity of the fight happening between them meant he would assuredly be shot. 

 

As he considered their options, the scream of X-wings sounded overhead.

 

_ “I thought we had more time,”  _ Hux said into their com link,  _ “I set up a distraction by programming the Upsilon to autopilot away from here.” _

 

“You  _ what?” _ Kylo asked incredulously, but couldn’t take any more time to berate or question Hux when the Resistance renewed their efforts. The knights were forced to mostly abandon their offensive, falling back to deflect the multitude of blasts from the cannons of the X-wings. The crossguard saber finally powered on and whirled with a graceful movement that had to be driven primarily by the muscle memory of Kylo’s body. Lasers exploded dangerously against it, letting off brilliant sparks in yellow and red.

 

Kylo jabbed a finger against his comm, switching channels.  _ “Shione, report!” _ He snapped.

 

If Kylo focused, he could see his knight pause for a fraction of a second before he heard a response.  _ “The original plan has been foiled, Master, but we should still have sufficient advantage to succeed.” _

 

_ “Probably.”  _ Praeta said, sounding a bit winded.  _ “If your troopers can hold the line.” _

 

_ “There’s more troops coming,” _ Kylo said shortly, and switched the line.  _ “Hux to the bridge,”  _ he said loudly,  _ “connect me with Captain Phasma, now.” _

 

There was a short tone, and Phasma’s voice came over the link. Kylo ducked between a small triangle of troopers, having trouble focusing on shooting when he was also trying to strategize.  _ “General--” _

 

_ “Where are my troops!”  _ Kyllo yelled.

 

_ “Almost there, maybe two minutes til touchdown but we had to plan around the enemy craft.” _

 

_ “Get it here  _ now _.”  _ Kylo demanded, and slapped the com back over to Hux.

 

_ “Hux, I--” _

 

_ “Watch out!” _

 

The scream in his ear was a sufficient surprise that Kylo turned around on instinct. The shot aimed for his chest missed by inches, and he realized that the troopers that had been covering his back were both dead, slumped on the ground. Most of the troopers were dead, and the others, while not routed, were clustered close together several feet from Kylo, trying to stay alive. There was another blaster shot near his ear, and he heard what was probably the last trooper in his little triad drop behind him.

 

“Kriff.” Kylo said, and the Resistance fighters were on him. 

 

They grabbed his limbs, and his blaster was forcibly stripped from his hand. He yelled, thrashed about, and felt the echoing thrum of Hux’s panic in his chest. 

 

Binders clamped around his left wrist, and he struggled with all his might as the scum tried to force his other hand behind his back. With a last-ditch effort, he flung what little Force power he had outwards, and two of the Resistance were thrown a few feet away. They glanced towards the knights nervously, but came back. 

 

They hauled him to standing, and Kylo could see Hux again. The other man had tossed off his helmet and was trying desperately to get to him. The unending barrage of blaster and cannon fire forced him to stay close to the other knights, and Kylo was struggling just as hard to get to them. Still, Hux was an average sized man, and throwing off four other men was no simple task. They started pulling him backwards, using his body as something of a shield as one still tugged on his other arm, and Kylo could swear he locked eyes with Hux across the field. 

 

He pushed with all he had left, through the Force and on the physical plane, and felt in his connection that Hux was doing the same. The lightsaber was only a streak of red as Hux blocked attacks, but their eyes held steady. There was a surging feeling. 

 

He could  _ feel _ the lightsaber in his hands, and as he looked down again he could see it. The moment was dreamlike, slower than regular time as it spun in the air, and somehow Kylo knew exactly how it would move next. His senses were narrowed down to one thing: the next strike. He must be seeing through Hux’s eyes in a way, their thoughts mingling together in an intimate Force connection because he could still feel Hux’s body, fighting against the Resistance members holding him back.

 

He could see across the field, see the Resistance...and swung. A cannon bolt ricocheted off the saber and streaked across the field, blasting a man’s head straight off his body. As they fell the pressure on his arm released. He watched himself twist, kick, then roll away from the three others and fall into a clean fighting stance. Kylo watched from two sets of eyes as three more bolts landed in the foolish men who’d tried to detain him, one for each, and with a collective roar from the knights and the touchdown of the second transport, the remaining Resistance began to run. 

 

Grazita stepped forward to go after them but Kylo’s body held a hand out. “Wait,” said two sets of voices, “the troopers will handle it. I need…”

 

He did not remember the rest.

 

-

 

 

Kylo woke quickly, his last memory being of a fight they very nearly did not win. He gasped, sat up, and nearly banged his forehead into a black mask. 

 

“Thank goodness,” he heard Praeta say from somewhere behind him, “Eash has been trying to reach you for hours.”

 

The front flat panel of Eash’s helmet lifted away from too near his face and resolved into Eash himself. He stepped away so Kylo could see the rest of the knights. 

 

“Welcome back, master.” Le’ene said, maskless, and the knights nodded their agreement. 

 

Kylo shook his head. “Is he…”

 

“Fine. Stable. Still unconscious.” Ryvvn said. 

 

“Did we--”

 

His knights kept preempting his questions. “The base is thoroughly dismantled and we captured ten or so of the Resistance fighters.” Shione said, stoic against the far wall. “It is over. Urij is safe.”

 

“Alright.” Kylo said, too tired to ask any more questions. “My head is splitting. You all can’t stay, it looks strange. Stay by Kylo.”

 

The knights looked at one another, heads turning to each side. “Master...do you not feel it?” Praeta asked.

 

“Pain, yes, a lot.”

 

“No,” she shook her head, her hood undulating around her, “you’re back. You switched.”

 

Kylo froze. Tentatively, he cleared his throat. “What?”

 

Now that he was listening...his voice was deeper. He looked down: his hands were bigger, more calloused, freckled with moles. The knights, likely sensing his heart-clenching mix of disbelief, awe, and fear, split down the middle to move to either end of his cot. 

 

There, across from his little meday room, through the open door, lay Hux. The sight was so familiar it ached. It felt wrong and right. Kylo didn’t have words for it.

 

“Oh.”

 

-

 

Hux woke quickly, his last memory being of a fight they very nearly did not win. He gasped, sat up, and nearly banged his forehead into a chrome helmet. 

 

Phasma jerked her head back fast enough that they did not collide. “My apologies, sir, I was assuring that your arm was healing satisfactorily.”

 

Hux refrained from making any more quick movements, his head was  _ killing _ him. “Painkillers?”

 

He heard it immediately. The world stuttered to a stop for a moment, and he grasped Phasma’s bracer in an iron grip as he tried to reorient himself. 

 

“I’m…”

 

“Yourself. In a manner of speaking. I’m not sure what happened in UR-35, but it worked. Welcome back, General.” She didn’t shake off his hand, although the oils were bad for the armor. In fact, she covered his hand with her own, squeezing it lightly. “I’ll get those painkillers.”

 

He nodded numbly, and let go as she stepped back. Hux followed her with his eyes, somehow reluctant to look at himself. There was a fearful feeling that was two juxtaposed concepts that was threatening to undo him. If he looked, one of two things would occur: he would find his own body, or he would find Kylo’s. At present, for some strange reason, neither of those was what he wanted. 

 

He remembered his last minute before blacking out during the battle. Everything had been slowed, he saw his--Kylo’s-- body through his eyes and then he was fighting, throwing every bit of combat training he had into getting the loathsome Resistance off them. He hadn’t much considered it at the time as strange, the main thought had been  _ No, they can’t have him. _ At that moment, who ‘him’ was had been vague and didn’t seem to matter much. 

 

Phasma came back to the bed and held out two little pills in her large hands. Hux closed his eyes, swallowed them dry, and then laid back down. 

 

He felt Phasma still standing next to him. It was an uneasy silence. “I’ll leave you to rest, sir,” she said, and her voice, even through her helmet, was gentle. Even after she left, Hux did not open his eyes.

 

-

 

Eventually, Hux had to open his eyes. It didn’t stop him from looking at most other things instead of himself. He had a droid shave him before he was discharged, with a bandage with scar ointment around his upper arm and his uniform feeling like a torture device. 

 

He did, however, see Kylo. They both stepped out of their medbay rooms at the same time, set across the hall from one another, and stopped short in their respective doorways. 

 

“Hux.” Kylo said shortly, seeming at a loss for what else to say.

 

“Kylo.” Hux replied, and couldn’t determine what inflection he’d put on the name. 

 

“It’s...you...we’re back.”

 

Hux shifted his weight to his other foot. It was strange to feel so light. “It appears so.”

 

Kylo seemed to sway in place, forward and back again. “Are you well?”

 

“Well. Yes.” What did that mean? Hux tried to puzzle it out, but Kylo spoke again.

 

“I guess I’ll,” he paused, looking Hux up and down. His eyebrows were drawn in, in that way that had made Hux press them apart with his thumb when he had looked in the mirror. “I’ll see you. Around.”

 

Around? Of course they would. But...they didn’t really have a reason to, did they. The insanity was over. They could go back to how it was before. It didn’t have to mean anything. Did it mean anything?

 

He didn’t know. Not right now, not when confronted with a face that he knew so intimately. Not when he didn’t know what the mind behind it was thinking anymore. 

 

“Of course,” Hux said, because what else was there to say? 

 

They stared at one another for an extended moment, until Hux could take it no longer. As one, they broke eye contact and turned, walking opposite directions down the hallway.

 


	18. Here's another song about a gender I'll never understand

 

“There’s nothing wrong, Phasma, I’ve felt better than I have in weeks.” 

 

“My only concern is, General, that you haven’t seen Kylo in--”

 

“Captain, please,” Hux said, straightening his tunic.  _ His _ tunic, in  _ his _ quarters. On  _ his body _ . It was almost surreal. Months of being not-himself, and here was was. Himself. Really, he’d been almost avoiding thinking about it. He was sure it’d feel natural again if he didn’t draw attention to the fact that it  _ didn’t _ . “It’s been only two weeks. I have a lot to catch up on. It’s fine.”

 

“Sir,”

 

“ _ Fine _ ,” Hux insisted. He grabbed his comm off of his desk, took two steps, paused, considered it, and then set it back down. He didn’t need it much anymore, did he? He very plainly did not look at Phasma as he strode to the door. “I will see you at the trooper evaluation.”

 

“Of course, sir.” Phasma replied, and watched him go. As the door slid closed behind him, she carefully picked up the comm device. It wasn’t very interesting, just a little speaker, the interesting part was that Hux hadn’t picked it up. It had floated into his hand.

 

-

 

Getting back into his groove on bridge shifts should have been like slipping into his own skin. 

 

Hux shook his head subtly. Bad analogy. 

 

Nonetheless, it shouldn’t have been difficult. 

 

That didn’t mean it wasn’t. 

 

He felt like he was vacillating between two states of being with no in between: tired and lazy, or extremely wound up, like he  _ needed _ to do some physical activity or he would twitch out of his skin. Another bad analogy. Anyways, neither of those were very good for bridge shifts, which generally included walking at a measured pace or simply standing still. When he went to his quarters each day after his shifts, he often fell into bed and simply slept without any concern for his clothes, his hygiene, or work he could be doing. 

 

No matter what he told Phasma, he still wasn’t feeling quite right.

 

He heard a sigh near his ear, and automatically put his fingers to where the comm would be. 

 

_ “Kylo?” _

 

He waited a moment, then scoffed. Almost exactly  _ two hours ago _ he had purposefully left the damn device in his quarters, and here he was, subvocalizing to no one. To add insult to injury, it wasn’t even the first time he’d done it. Hux needed a break, even five minutes to get some caf and just walk out some of his seemingly unending nervous energy. 

 

“Back in five. Lieutenant, you have the bridge.”

 

“Yes sir,” said the Lieutenant, and watched him leave. As the doors slid shut, they tilted their head to the officer next to them. “Hey, Plint.”

 

“Yeah?” Plint replied, also looking at the door.

 

“Did you see the General hit the door release?”

 

“Nope.”

 

“...Me either.”

 

-

 

“Master, you’ve haven’t done any training in three days. We’re all worried.”

 

Praeta stood across Kylo’s bedroom, near the door, short arms crossed and her forward foot looking as if it were dangerously close to tapping. 

 

Kylo sighed. “I’m  _ fine _ , Praeta. I’m just...recovering.”

 

“For two weeks?”

 

“I was in another body for  _ months _ !”

 

Praeta was quiet for a moment, more like a statue than a living being in her trained stillness. Then, she pushed back her hood, released her helmet, and tucked it under her arm as she approached the bed. Kylo didn’t attempt to stop her as she perched on the edge. He was curled up on the other end, in full robes but for his bare feet. His own helmet was on the nightstand. He hadn’t been able to put it back on yet, it hadn’t felt right.

 

“Master,” she said, then paused and restarted. “Kylo, I’ve known you since we were new to the Force. You know you have nothing to hide from us, and you still have been keeping your feelings away from us recently. It’s like a black smoke is obscuring you. Is that on purpose?”

 

Kylo sighed, a deep, long breath that had filled his torso. He held a hand out, and his datapad zipped into it from the other end of the room. He fiddled with it absently. “I don’t know.”

 

“We’ve stayed on to make sure there weren’t any side effects from the switch, and while your Force abilities appear normal, this behavior is concerning.”

 

“I’m aware, Praeta,” he replied, tense, and sent the pad back to the countertop. Instead, he summoned his socks. The urge to use the Force for every small task was overwhelming, as if they’d disappear again as soon as he lapsed. As he put the socks on and stood up, Praeta touched his arm. Kylo paused.

 

“Kylo, if you don’t want to share with all of us again just yet, alright. But let me in? Maybe I can help.” 

 

She looked so sincere. Kylo had always considered Praeta’s face and form to be soft. She was, without question, the kindest of the knights, and her unerringly positive outlook often kept them in a semblance of balance when the Dark threatened to take over, even if sometimes that was exactly what he wanted. However, he knew she hid a core of steel, and would not let go of something once she latched on. Praeta was a powerful Force user and warrior just like the rest of them, but she also hadn't let go of some of the principles of the Jedi. And Kylo, given some of his own complex predilections, could not fault her this weakness. 

 

Kylo sighed, closed his eyes, and tried for a moment to dispel the smoke around his thoughts. He felt Praeta dip in, then moments later pull away. 

 

“You think about him a lot,” she said. The knights had not discussed how to handle Hux now that he was a General again, so her usage of ‘him’ was delicate. 

 

Kylo nodded.

 

“I didn’t know you felt so strongly.”

 

“Apparently so.” Kylo had wondered if maybe, after it was all over, the way he felt would fade off like a dream, tied to a version of him that no longer existed. It hadn’t. But he was fairly sure it had for Hux.

 

“Okay. Well sitting here isn’t going to help either way. Come and spar with us, and if afterwards you want to talk it over more, we will be there.”

 

“I did already put my socks on…” Kylo said slowly, glancing at Praeta. She laughed and clapped his arm, and for a moment he felt like himself again. 

 

-

 

“Hux,”

 

“Mm,” Hux replied, rolling over. 

 

_ “Hux,”  _ insisted the voice, and the lights went on. He grumbled angrily and rolled again, making an angry waving gesture with his hand. The lights went off. 

 

They stayed off, but the voice didn’t leave. “Hux, you were supposed to be on the bridge an hour ago.” 

 

Hux sat bolt upright, the covers falling away. “What?”

 

Phasma stood in front of his bed, helmet off to reveal the irritated twist of her lips. “Currently Lieutenant Mitaka is covering in your absence, but I assured the worried crew that there must have been an appointment you hadn’t remembered to inform them of. Lo and behold, said appointment was with your pillow.”

 

“I, there wasn’t,” Hux scrambled for his pad, “I must have fallen asleep before I,” he trailed off, tapping around frantically. 

 

“Hux,” Phasma said, gentle enough that Hux couldn’t help but wince a bit, “if you tell me you’re fine one more time, I will smack you, rank be damned.”

 

He gaped at her a moment before forcibly shutting his mouth and closing his eyes. He let the datapad fall onto the bed and used the freed hand to rub his eyes. “I know, Phasma, but there’s nothing for it. I’ll go to medbay and get some sleep regulators, and start a new personal training program. It’ll help. It has to. I feel...off, everywhere.”

 

“That much is apparent, sir.” Phasma said, but her tone was not yet sarcastic. Though he probably deserved her ire, she was being delicate with him. “Have you seen Kylo yet?”

 

“No,” he replied, stubborn.

 

“Do you miss him?” 

 

He froze. For a moment, he let himself consider it. “I don’t know. I miss  _ something _ .”

 

She considered him further, his coppery hair tousled from sleep and his mouth downturned into a frown. “Maybe you should see him.”

 

The frown turned annoyed with the push down of his eyebrows. “He hasn’t been to see me. All of that has passed now, we should just try to be normal.”

 

“Normal. Right.” Her expression was suddenly so dubious Hux had to look away.

 

“I have to get to the bridge.” Hux said, attempting to end the discussion as he rose from bed in his undergarments. Phasma had seen worse.

 

Phasma put her hand out, effectively stopping Hux’s rush to the refresher. “Your shift has been moved to Mitaka. He has no problem with it.” Hux would imagine not. It was a cushy assignment if all was well. “Go back to bed. Message me when you are awake again, and I’ll have seen about those sleep regulators. Confidentially.”

 

Hux looked her over. He didn’t like meddling, but it was  _ Phasma _ meddling, and she didn’t intend any harm. He nodded. “Alright.”

 

Phasma left him to his bed and quickly moved out into the hallway. There, she pulled out the comm she had swiped from Hux’s desk and stuck it in her ear. The first channel was to Kylo, the second to her, but the third was to someone else. It was a gamble, but something had to give. Hux had waved his damn hand and turned the lights off. Besides being a basket case, someone was going to notice even if he clearly didn’t. 

 

The comm link started up with low static undertone. “Is this one of the Knights of Ren?”

 

_ “State your business.”  _ A masculine voice came over the line. 

 

“Captain Phasma. I work under General Hux, and I think there’s something you ought to know.”

 

A short silence. A feminine voice then came on.  _ “Hush, Shione. This is Praeta, it’s good to finally speak to you, Captain. Tell me what we should know.” _

 

_ - _

 

Kylo felt...unwatched.

 

That should have been comforting, but it wasn’t.

 

Working alone in one of the training rooms, he ran through basic stances, strikes, and blocks in every form he knew, no matter how little it was he knew. Lightsaber forms had been nearly lost after the wars, but his uncle had been trying to instill it in the newest generation before Kylo had...left. That said, his knowledge was spotty. Most of his knights were partial to more defensive forms, like II and III, given that they often fought with other weapons and didn’t dedicate themselves to sabers, but Kylo’s uniquely shaped saber, built that way out of necessity rather than any vanity (despite claims to the opposite), required he go a different route.

 

He personally was drawn to I and V, for different reasons. Form I was simple and used the design of regular swords in the basis of the technique. It was one of the first forms taught to him, and the strange weight and resistance of his saber lent well to the strong motions and simple sweeping strikes. Form V, well, Darth Vader had used Form V. Besides, the usage of tight saber spins and more controlled strikes and blocks was a good fit for his large frame and wide-balanced stance, but the application of strength without relying on the Force for assistance was ideal. On top of that, the semi-defensive focus on deflecting blaster bolts had been crucial more than once. 

 

Still, Kylo ran through everything he knew, what he had learned from Shione over the years (a practitioner of primarily Form IV, strangely), and then some things he had sort of...made up. He hadn’t exactly  _ finished _ his saber training, but rather had mashed together all he and his knights knew to make something that fit him. As long as it kept them alive, it didn’t matter if it had some fancy title, did it?

 

Likewise, he hadn’t had many opportunities to test his training against real opponents. Resistance fighters and mercenaries and other fools was one thing, but the galaxy was very obviously lacking in trained Force-users to pit himself against. 

 

The combination of getting lost in his thoughts, his general unrest, and the unnerving feeling of being  _ unwatched _ was a recipe for disaster. His grip shifted unexpectedly halfway through a complex body-covering sweep block; suddenly a quillon was angled at his belly. In a quick motion, he flipped the hilt, pressing the ignition switch as it swung out and upwards. He managed to catch it with a lurch forward, and thankfully it was off by the time his fingers grasped the metal again, the emitter pointed inward. 

 

Sometimes he thought, if he were still a Jedi, he would get his saber taken away due to what appeared to be sheer disregard for safety. Ryvvn had said to him, once, “You flip that saber like a dagger, Master, I cannot understand the rationale.” Big but tight swings and grip switches had always come naturally,  sometimes treating the weapon more like a poi than a blade. Still, he considered as he stared down at the hilt, he had never really utilized the ability to turn  _ off _ the blade before. Now, it seemed obvious. 

 

His fingers tightened on the weapon, and he looked up, scanning the room in uncharacteristic paranoia. No one. He still felt unwatched. That should be a  _ good _ thing, but the knights, no matter how far they were from him, always seemed to make at least a token effort to connect. Now, they seemed mysteriously and conspicuously absent. Maybe they were giving him space? After he had been very obviously yet unintentionally blocking them out, maybe they had agreed to back off. The absence was glaring.

 

He heard a soft sigh, like one would let out while dreaming, near his ear. He whirled, reigniting the saber, but no one was there. 

 

Hux hadn’t connected to him, intentionally or otherwise, in two weeks. Somehow, he had gotten used to the nuisance of Hux’s intruding thoughts and feelings. He missed it. He hadn’t felt this truly alone in a long time. 

 

The temptation to sit on the floor and sulk was pretty strong. He powered down the saber again, and used the Force to send it to a bench on the opposite side of the room. Clearly, he didn’t have the focus to use the tool appropriately, so he would just switch to a basic routine that pushed at his admittedly poor flexibility. 

 

Just as he was cringing into a backbend, the door slid open, and six black robed figures poured into the room. Kylo let out a surprised sound and flopped painfully to the mat. He squeezed his eyes shut to try and stave off the automatic flare-up of anger, because the feeling of his knights was back, and the consensus was excitement. That was interesting enough to hold off a tantrum.

 

“Master,” said Le’ene, her helmet and gloves already off in the safety of the locked room, “we have news.”

 

Kylo had a sneaking suspicion about the topic. “If it’s about Hux, I am not interested in hearing it.” 

 

“But Master,” Grazita started, but Kylo held up a hand to silence her. She huffed angrily. She’d always had a habit of trying to pick up for Le’ene. 

 

Eash stepped forward, but stopped next to Shione. Everyone seemed at a strange stalemate, even Praeta was hesitating. Finally, Ryvvn stepped forward of the rest and blurted, “Hux is still Force-sensitive.”

 

Kylo blinked at him from the floor. “What?”

 

“I have seen it myself, Master,” Shione continued, and Eash nodded enthusiastically in support, “he does not appear to be aware of it, but we have confirmed it. He retains ability.”

 

“He...he doesn’t know?” Kylo asked, dumbfounded. Could it be true? This was unprecedented, monumental,  _ wonderful. _

 

“Don’t think so,” said Praeta, finally joining, “I doubt he would be so casual and blatant in its use if he did.”

 

Throwing himself up from the floor in a motion that uncomfortably stretched his abdomen but gratified his sense of urgency and flair, he summoned his saber again. “Where is he.”

 

-

 

Hux walked down the hallway towards his quarters, after another extremely impatient four hours on the bridge. His distraction meant he was woefully underprepared for his meeting with the General of the  _ Capitulate _ star destroyer. They were to be discussing a rendezvous point and time to trade a large contingent of stormtroopers. The other man was a fan of cross training his soldiers, so he’d said, and Hux had begrudgingly agreed even though Phasma had sworn up and down that the other General was just trying to steal  _ her _ soldiers. 

 

Honestly, Hux hadn’t even investigated where the other ship was yet. He was too distracted by what seemed to be nothing. It was infuriating.

 

The cloud of black came out of seemingly nowhere. Really, the hallway was  _ straight _ . But suddenly Kylo was upon him, and just as swiftly the others retreated to...somewhere. Hux had a hard time paying attention when Kylo’s too-big eyes were staring into his own.

 

“Ren,” Hux started, trying to affect casualness even though his heart rate had just jumped through the roof.  

 

“You need a teacher.” Kylo said, not moving anything but his mouth.

 

Hux frowned. “Have you hit your head recently?”

 

“No, I,” Kylo paused, then pulled back slightly. “You really don’t know.”

 

“Know what?” Hux’s frown shifted into a look of concern. 

 

“You’re…you have the Force.”

 

He processed the words, but they meant nothing. Nothing that made sense anyways. Hux laughed. “Now I know you’ve hit your head. We switched back, remember?”

 

“Your sensitivity remains.” Ren replied, sounding sure.

 

Hux put his hands on his hips; he was going to hold his ground on this one. “Don’t be ridiculous. We haven’t mentally connected, I haven’t moved anything with my mind. It’s over. Let it be, Kylo.” He was somewhat concerned about Ren’s behavior. Was this a result of the stress? 

 

Ren seemed surprised and saddened. “Hux, I’m not--why would I lie about this?”

 

“I don’t know, why would you?” Hux retorted. 

 

Ren threw his hands in the air, a gesture that Hux recognized as his own. “Don’t be obstinate, Hux, the knights have seen it. You’ve been using the Force, I can’t believe you didn’t notice!”

 

“There’s nothing to notice!” 

 

“Augh,” Ren took his raised hands and pushed them towards Hux, who slid back a step as the Force pressing against his body. “Can’t you feel it?”

 

“Don’t do that again, Ren.” Hux warned. His anger rose to the forefront. How could Ren, after all this, use his powers against Hux?

 

“What, this?” Ren curled his fingers in, and Hux slid another foot back. 

 

“ _ Kylo.” _

 

“You need to believe me.”

 

“I  _ believe  _ you’re certifiably mental!”

 

“Am I?” Kylo yelled, and pushed again. Hux threw his hand out instinctively, and did not slide back. Instead, he watched Ren stumble away, a look of surprise and triumph coming to his features. 

 

Hux froze. He looked from Ren to his hand and back again. Ren’s grin was blinding. “Oh.”

 

Ren stood back up from his wide stance. “I wouldn’t lie to you, Hux. You see now?”

 

“I…” Hux trailed off, at a loss for words. How could this be? He hadn’t even realized. 

 

“Things were supposed to be back to normal.” He said finally, gripping his fingers with his other hand.

 

Ren came closer, carefully, as if he were going to spook Hux otherwise. Honestly, Hux wasn’t sure that wouldn’t happen. “Is that why you’ve been avoiding me?” Ren asked, quietly, his hands hovering inches away from Hux’s arms. 

 

“I’m not.” Hux said, but it sounded like a lie. “I’m doing my job. It’s supposed to...supposed to be over.”

 

Ren’s stiffened as Hux focused on the outstretched hands. “You just want to forget it all happened? Us?”

 

Hux tensed further, sensing Ren’s unhappiness. “Well, no, I thought--”

 

Dropping his hands to Hux’s arms, Ren ducked down and kissed him. Automatically, Hux closed his eyes. It was brief, but Hux’s tension melted away in those few seconds before Ren pulled away. He knew, logically, he should be angry, but he couldn’t bring himself to be. His mind was whirling.

 

“You...kissed me.”

 

“Yes?” Ren replied, unsure.

 

“You kissed me. Not you. Me?” Hux had to be clear on this, this critical point. Everything hinged on it.

 

“Well yeah. I like you, Hux. Did you really think I was a total narcissist?”

 

Hux raised his eyebrow. “Given your hair, I,mean,”

 

Kylo swatted him on the arm and Hux let out a surprised laugh. He kissed Kylo, and when he stopped Kylo was blinking at him, pleased. “I think I like this better.” Hux said. 

 

“Me too.” Kylo replied.

 

-

 

Somehow, standing in front of the Knights of Ren was much more uncomfortable in his own body. 

 

“So,” Hux started, desperate to break the silence. 

 

“Congratulations.” Ryvvn said, stoic but for a slight tilt of his hip. 

 

He couldn’t help it. He was sure they already knew. “For what, the Force powers or admitting I’m attracted to Kylo?”

 

“Both!” Praeta said cheerfully, clapping her hands together. The joy of the motion was somewhat hampered by her gloves. From the corner of his eye, Hux saw Kylo drop his head into his palm. 

 

Shione, leaned once again against the nearest wall, spoke up. “All pleasantries and positive feelings aside, we still have a problem.”

 

Hux turned as he felt Kylo’s feelings twist. The kisses seemed to have moved the rock that had metaphorically blocked their connection, and now Hux felt him as though not a day had passed since their last battle. 

 

“What problem, Shione?”

 

“The problem is,” Shione moved across the room with purpose, coming close. Though Hux was taller, he could feel the intimidation coming off of the knight, and straightened in response. “The problem is,” he repeated, “we now have an untrained Force user in our midst. The current procedure in this situation is quite clear.”

 

Hux was about to ask  _ what procedure _ , feeling as if he may have just been invited to his own execution. Again. Ryvvn beat him to a response. 

 

“Shione, be reasonable. We don’t know if he will retain ability. It may be something like...an echo, from his time in Kylo’s body.”

 

Le’ene and Praeta nodded, but the rest stayed stoic. “We know not the true ways of the Force,” Shione replied, “we must assume the most serious outcome.” Hux could hear the faint whisper of the knight’s vocoder as he breathed. Hux counted one breath for every two of his own. 

 

“I must point out, as much as it pains me, that if this is an echo of our Master’s power, or truly an extension of it, would that not solidify his status among us?” Grazita said, uncrossing and recrossing her arms across her chest as she spoke. 

 

There was a considering pause. “There really can only be one Master.” Praeta said, her first real note of dissent from Hux. He sucked in a breath. 

 

“I put him under my tutelage.” Kylo said from behind him. 

 

Hux turned. “What?”

 

“There is a period of training before induction into the Knights of Ren, though it is a process rarely used.” Ryvvn said, and Eash followed up his statement with a hurried series of signs. 

 

“Exactly,” Ryvvn replied, “if by the end of the period, he has lost sensitivity, the problem solves itself. If he hasn’t, he won’t be loose anymore.”

 

“Excuse me,” Hux interrupted, frustration coloring his tone, “do I get a choice here?”

 

Kylo’s hand came down on his shoulder, and he jumped slightly. “Not really,” he said, “we can’t have you running around untrained. As well, if someone finds out, you need to know how to defend yourself.” Kylo gave him a pointed look.

 

“I can--” Hux started, but gave up with a sigh and an angry grumble. He was outvoted seven to one.

 

After a moment, he took a large breath and drew himself up. “Fine. This will work just as it did before. I have to keep up with my duties, but I can scale some of it back to make time for this ‘training’.” Hux air-quoted the word. 

 

The knights seemed to take the insult in stride. “So how good are you with that blaster, General?” Grazita asked. “You’ll probably need a more effective weapon in the long run either way. We won’t let you be undefended, but we also won’t let you depend on others for protection.”

 

“My blaster skills are fine.” Hux snapped, then took a second to think. “However...I do have an idea.”

 

-

 

Kylo waited anxiously, fingers drumming on his desk that he rarely used. The other knights were scattered about the room. 

 

“Any word from Supreme Leader?” Praeta asked, affecting a casual air as she inspected her nails through her gloves. Kylo rolled his eyes. 

 

“No, nothing. I think for now we can assume his interest in the situation has waned.”

 

“Do you think he knows about Hux?” Le’ene asked, fiddling with the strap on her removed pauldron, socked feet propped on the desk. 

 

“It’s impossible to be sure either way.” He replied, and fell into a more moody silence than before. Honestly, he was concerned about Snoke knowing. Would that jeopardize Hux’s position? Would Snoke consider his attachment a weakness? Thankfully he had met with the Supreme Leader to report their success before finding out about Hux’s new Force powers (or were they the same powers?), so his mind could not have given it away. 

 

“He is coming, correct?” Ryvvn asked. Kylo assumed he meant Hux.

 

He turned slightly in his chair to better angle his fingers for tapping. “After his shift. It just ended.” They hadn’t seen one another in a couple days, Hux insisting on privacy as he worked on his ‘idea’. For the life of him Kylo couldn’t think of what it could be, though something was niggling in the back of his mind he couldn’t pin down, but he had felt Hux’s flares of frustration and exhilaration between his shifts, finally dissolving into a curious contentedness. The anticipation was killing him.

 

Just as he was about to give up and call out to Hux through comm or _ something _ , the door to his quarters opened and Hux stepped in, hands behind his back. Kylo shot up to standing.

 

“Now, I expect not a word.” Hux addressed Kylo. “I wasn’t entirely sure how to do it, it isn’t like there’s a manual.”

 

“Do what?” Kylo asked dumbly. He felt the knights crowd in behind him, a semi circle of black and chrome. Le’ene had somehow replaced her helmet in the seconds when the door opened. 

 

“Well,” Hux let the word trail off as he brought his hands out from behind him. In his palms lay a small hilt, mostly silver in color but with a black leathery inlay and finger grips. The grip area thinned out near the top to host the dials and ignition button, to widen out slightly again into an angled emitter. It was an elegant piece, Kylo had to admit. He was too stunned to say so. 

 

“You made your lightsaber?” Praeta asked, sounding a bit awed.

 

“Ah, yes.” Hux said awkwardly. “Though ‘saber’ may be a misnomer. The crystal was quite small, but Kylo insisted I kept it. I made the hilt to match. I think.” His fingers curled around the hilt, a gesture of discomfort but protectiveness. Hux was proud of what he had built. 

 

“Have you turned it on?” Kylo asked quietly.

 

“No,” Hux said, looking down at the floor for a second, “I know they are...sensitive. If I’d done it wrong, I wouldn’t know. And I’d prefer not to have an explosion on my ship.”

 

“Let me see it.” Grazita said, reaching past Kylo to put her palm out. “I’ll look at the wiring.”

 

Reluctantly, Hux handed it over. Grazita screwed off the pommel, which really was the whole back half, and peered inside. The eyeslot of her helmet lit up for illumination, and after a tense minute she put it back together. “The crystal is in the right way, and the wiring looks sound. How did you even make a proper mount for it?”

 

Hux took it back as soon as he could reach it without stretching. Kyko quirked his mouth up in a smile; he was so obvious. “The Empire used quite a lot of kyber crystals in their weaponry. We have schematics. I did have to pull apart a surprising number of blasters and one hand cannon to get the parts, however.”

 

“So,” Kylo said, “turn it on.”

 

Hux looked to him, then across the knights. 

 

“Come on, Hux. I know you want to see it.”

 

Hux scowled at him, but Kylo just grinned again. He would needle Hux endlessly later, (he honestly wasn’t sure before if Hux  _ had _ kept the crystal) but right now he deserved to see his own damn lightsaber...dagger...whatever. 

 

Sighing in defeat, Hux turned her hilt in his palm to face the emitter towards the ceiling. He held his breath, and pressed the button.

 

A blade just over a foot long, maybe a foot and a half, sprung up from the hilt, bathing them all in an orange glow with an accompanying healthy hum. 

 

Kylo couldn’t help it, he started laughing. He had to be yanked backwards by his knights before Hux chopped him in half out of righteous indignation. 

 

-

 

_ Two months later _

 

Hux rubbed the towel vigorously on his hair as he stepped out of the refresher. It was a pain to wash his hair so often, but his new training regimen demanded it. He spent no less than four hours every day working on his Force control, his saber technique, and his overall physical fitness. The knights demanded the first two before they had left for another mission, and Kylo had highly suggested the third. It wasn’t that Hux was listening to Kylo, he’d been planning to work out again anyways. He was already seeing a marked improvement in his skills and a visible toning of his muscles. It was gratifying. The improved sleep and mood didn’t hurt, either. 

 

He was putting his uniform back on despite his next shift not being for another couple hours when he heard a whisper through his mind. 

 

_ Hux. _

 

The instinct to look around was still there, but he had trained himself to recognize when the voice was in his mind. 

 

_ What? _ He sent. It wasn’t really words, more of a questioning feeling. The river of their linked minds took it easily. 

 

_ Come to me. _ Was the gist of what Kylo sent back, and sent him a flash of a large, darkened place. Hux rolled his eyes, but put his boots on and clipped on his weapons. The blaster sat where it always did, but just behind it, not hidden but less obvious, hung his lightdagger. The extra weight, after a couple weeks, wasn’t even noticeable. He hadn’t needed to use it outside of training yet and half of him hoped he wouldn’t ever need to. The other half hoped he did, out of some strange sense of vanity. His powers, contrary to fading away, had seemed to solidify. He wasn’t especially strong, every Knight of Ren could best him, but it was an appreciable ability. Certainly enough to scare a non-sensitive being. His pride in that fact was not necessarily deserved, there was still the chance that the powers weren’t truly  _ his _ , but Hux never did anything by half, and he was  _ good _ at using the Force, once he didn’t feel trapped by it. 

 

In a fit of that same vanity, he summoned his datapad as he crossed his bedroom and sauntered out the door without pausing. 

 

Following his senses, the link between him and Kylo something akin to a pheromone trail in Hux’s perception, after ten minutes of concentrated wandering he found the man. He was in an empty observation deck, standing close to the window, looking out onto empty space. They had left the Western Reaches weeks ago, and were traveling leisurely to their next destination in the Outer Rim. Currently they were surrounded by nothing but the wink of stars and blackness. 

 

He stood next to Kylo, falling into a relaxed stance, but Kylo did not reach for him. Hux had gotten fairly used to Kylo’s handsy tendencies, and had even come to enjoy them usually. They were progressing slowly but steadily, and Hux had been impressed at how...natural it all felt. Of course, Kylo still pissed him off quite regularly, but they hadn’t had any blowout fights. Frankly, Hux couldn’t find the anger in him anymore. 

 

“What is it, Kylo?”

 

Kylo seemed to come back from wherever in space he had thrown his mind to. He looked over to Hux, smiled, and Hux could feel his affection. “I like when you call me Kylo.”

 

“I know.” Hux replied, confused. 

 

Looking out into space again, Kylo said, “I was thinking about what happened to us. We’re different now. Of course, any experience such as ours would have some effect, but I feel almost as if this had been preordained by the Force itself.”

 

Hux stayed quiet. While he wouldn’t agree, this train of thought felt like it was some time in coming, and he would let Kylo finish it. It felt important. 

 

“The ability to like yourself and like someone else are not mutually exclusive. We most often value qualities in others that we would like to see in ourselves, or those we feel we will never possess. But our impression of ourselves is always skewed, mostly towards the negative, like a distorted mirror.”

 

Kylo put his hand out, bare, onto the glass, and looked at it. “I have never liked myself. I have always been...broken. Made wrong, so I thought. I never let myself get close to anyone, for at first they pushed me away, and then I believed I could never truly care for anyone as I would only selfishly want a reflection of myself, because that was all I deserved. The bond between my knights and I is one forged of fire and blood, and I know their minds intimately, but I don’t love them. They don’t love themselves, either.

 

“Only when we switched bodies did I truly see myself. I saw my flaws and my gifts as they were, not as I believed them to be. When I felt something in your body, it was set apart from what your body was used to feeling, and so I had a clarity and understanding of my own mind that I doubt anyone else alive has ever achieved, sparing you. I saw who I was, without the Force, without the burden of being  _ me _ . That’s how, when I realized I was attracted to you, I knew it was real. I know you felt the same.

 

“So while I fell for you, I also fell for myself. I accepted parts of me that I’d always thought weren’t right. This isn’t to say I’ve reached peace, but I know what it could be like. I know that I have a chance. I wanted to take that chance with you.”

 

Hux stared at Kylo’s hand as it peeled off of the glass and reached for him. He let their fingers tangle together, and Kylo held their hands up between them.

 

After a moment, Hux said, cautiously, “I think I understand.”

 

Kylo smiled. “You don’t have to, not directly. But I know you experienced the same thing I did, otherwise we wouldn’t be here.”

 

It wasn’t necessary to say anything in reply. They stared at their joined hands, and Hux had to admit to himself that it felt right. 

 

“Hux, do you sometimes still feel like me?” Kylo asked, quietly.

 

Hux nodded. He cast his memory back to just yesterday, when he felt the phantom whisper of heavy fabric flowing against his legs as he walked down the hallway. Or the day before that, when he without thinking put his hand to his stomach, across the memory of a scar he didn’t truly have. “Sometimes.”

 

Kylo nodded too. He turned back towards the window, but didn’t let go of Hux’s hand. Hux could see the small grin forming on his lips. “You know...I was talking to Eash and Praeta, and we could probably do it again.”

 

“Do what?” 

 

“Switch.”

 

Hux scoffed, while simultaneously a shiver ran down his spine. He couldn’t tell whether the shiver was good or bad, and was determined not to examine it too closely. “We aren’t doing it again, that’s insane. We almost died. Twice.”

 

Shrugging, Kylo said, “It would be easier now.”

 

“You’ve lost it,” Hux said firmly, “absolutely not.”

 

“Just keep it in mind, Hux, it could be useful one day.”

 

Hux scoffed, but still looked out into space with Kylo, and didn’t think too hard as a matching smile crept over his own face and their hands stay clasped between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to tezzypants, my biggest fan with this fic, and the evil, brilliant little voice in my ear. Happy Birthday!
> 
> I wanted to say a final thank you to those who held strong with me through this fic. It was a challenge for me, but I think it was worth it. My first ever multi-chapter fic in the kylux fandom is complete, finally. It is thanks to all of you, who left comments and kudos and encouraged me.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to tinyfiestyrosiekitten.tumblr.com for being a pal and encouraging me to write this ridiculous thing. I've been having a lot of fun. 
> 
> The inspiration song for this fic is Kill the Director by The Wombats, and the titles reflect this. :>
> 
> Lastly, my tumblr is also vmprsm, feel free to hit me up.


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